ECSTASY'.

The release of the Soul

from the body

By
R9BERT CROOKALL,

D.Se., "b.D.

Member of the $ocieiy for PsyChicalResearch.
Member of the Churches' Fellowshipfor Psychical a~ Spiritual StuditJ.
(Late Principal Geologist, H. M. Geological Survey, London:
formerly Demonstrator in Botany, University of Aberdeen)

INTRODUCTION
. "'The secret of magical flight' [the release of~e Soul from the body]
is known not only in Yoga but also in Indian alchemy. And the same
miracle is so common among the Buddhist that arhats that Qrahant yielded
the Singhalese verb rahat we, 'to disappear', 'to pass instantly from one
Point to another [bilocation or astral projection-the body being in one place
and the Soul in another] ... Among many peoples the Soul is conceived of
as a bird. Magkalflight assumes the value of an 'escape/rom the body',
i. e., it translates ecstasy, the liberation of the Soul, into plastic terms. But
while the majority of human beings are changed into birds [freed from
their physical bodies] only at the moment of death, when they forsake
their bodies and ily into the air, shamans, sorcerers and ecstatics of all
kinds realise 'emergence from the body' in this world as often as they wish.
This myth of the bird-soul contains In germ a whole metaphysics of man's
'spiritual autonomy andfreedom", - Professor M. Eliade (Yaga, Immortality and Freedom, Bollingen Series LVI, Pantheon Books Ine., N. Y.,
t9SS, p. 329).

"In these self-projections we have ... the most extraordinary achievement of the human will•..Of all vital phenomena, this is the most signifi-

cant". - F. W. H. Myers.
"It is of great importance that parapsychology research should ... direct
its attention to investigating 80 called out-of-the-body experiences". Prof. W. H. C. Tenhaeff.
"Healer and psychopomp, the shaman is there because he commands
techniques of ecstasy, i. e., because his Soul can safely abandon his
body and roam vast distances [on earth], can penetrate the 'underworld'
["Hades"] and rise to the 'sky' ["Paradise"]. - Professor M. Eliade (Shamanism, AIchaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Routledge, 1964).

.

~e

"All these dreams, myths and nostalgias, with a central theme of asceut or Bight, cannot be exhausted by a psychological explanation, and
tbis•..reveals the real situation of man in the cosmos, a situation that •••is
Dot solely historical". - ibid.
'

"Forgetting original meanings is a common phenomenon in the history of religion". - ibid.
"What, then, was the historico-religioussituation in Central and North
Asia where, later on, shamanism crystallised as an autonomous and speific complex? Everywhere in those lands, and from the earliest time, we
find documents for the existence of a Supreme Being of celestial structure
... The symbolism of ascent, with all the rites and myths dependent on it,
must be connected with celestial Supreme Beings; we know that 'height'
was sacred as such, that many Supreme Beings are caned 'He on High',
'He of the Sky', or simply •Sky'... The disappearance of the cult of the
celestial Supreme Beingdid not nullify the symbolism of ascent with all its
implications. This symbolism is documented everywhere and in all historico-religious contexts. Now, the symbolism of ascent plays an' essential
part in the sham~nic ideology and techniques... It i~ indisputable that the
celestial ascent of the shaman (or the medicine-man, the magician, ete.)
is a survival, profoundly modified and sometimes degenerated, of this
archaic religious ideoiogycentred on faith in a celestial Supreme Being and
belief in concrete communications between heaven and earth .. Furtherreferred to more intimate relations between the Supreme
more, the
Beings and shamans [=prophet-priests]; in particular, they tell of a Firsi
Shaman, sent to earth by the Supreme Being' t~ defend human bei~g;
against disease and evil spirits,.. The increasingly important role given to
.the ancestor cult and to the .divine or semi-divine figures that took the
place of the Supreme Being in their turn altered the meaning of the shaman's ecstatic experience. Descents to the underworld ["Hades"], the struggle against evil spirits, but also the increasingly familiar relations with
'spirits' that resulted in their 'embodiment' or in the shaman's being 'possessed' by 'spirits', are innovations, most of them recent" .. - ibid.
.

myths

"Our circuit of being includes our descent [;"the' 'fall' into matter]
as germic Selves [Greater, Inner, Eternal Selves or Over-souls] from the
central state [=the true 'Heavens' - beyondtime, spaCe or form]'into
this outer, physical world, passing through intermediate states [=the· Soul
WorJd, 'Paradise' or the 'Garden of Eden'] before we get here, Becoming
endowed with an organism through human parentage, our self-consciousreturn
ness unfolds and we re-ascend [resurrecting out of matted,' on
:circuit consciously, through the same states but in reverse order, fro~ !be
.circumference to the centre, through which we descended. We descend a~
umts of conscious life but we re-ascend as self-consciousfinite selves", .....:..
".,4 "communicator" (of Oswald Murray).
i

our

"Belief in a mechanistic universe is a modern superstition ..The belief
. is based on a more or less extensive series of correct facts, facts which are
. generalised witho~t wa~~t, and ~all~ so distorted that they
grotesque... The mechanistic superstition IS dangerous, Once we hav~ .~o.~

becoinf

to the stage of seeing in man merely a complex machine, what does it
matter if we destroy him?" - Professor W. Hettler, F. R. S.
"The theories of writers about primitive religion have not been sus-..
tained by research "Many origins have been propounded-magic, fetishism,
manism, pre-animism, mana, totemism, momotheism, etc. All this was,
for the most part, pure conjecture. The determination of the primordium,
in the absence of historical evidence, was, as Schleiter among others, bas
shown, quite arbitrary". - Professor E. Evans Pitchard.
"By annihilating the necessities of the physical body we may loosen
the bonds of the Spirit [in the Soul Body] and enable it to manifest some
of its inherent endowments [ESP]. Ascetics and saints have frequently
done this voluntarily [by meditation, concentration and prayer], and disease, [which tends to release part of the vehicle of vitality as well as
the Soul Body] or a peculiar constitution [the mediumistic constitution,
i, e., a loose vehicle of vitality] sometimes do it for us involuntarily.
While it is undesirable that we should seek to produce such a state, it is extremely desirable that should avail ourselves 0/ the instruction to be gained
that such phenomena exist and that thereby our connexion with the Spiritual
World may become a demonstrated/act". - Catherine Crowe, 1848.

PREFACE
In 1961 I published the results of several years' study of purported
communications of discarnate Souls under the title The Supreme A.dventure
'(James Clarke & Co. Ltd.). It was based on a contrast between the events
'and experiences said to occur in naturaldeath in old age and enforced
death in the prime of life (e. g., soldiers in battle).
.
In thesame year, another study, an investigation oftemporaiy out-of
-the-body experiences, popularly called astral projections, was published
under the title The Study andPractice of AstralProjection (Aquarian Press,
1961). This study also was b8sed on a contrast between the events and
experiences that occurred in naturaland enforcedcases. A significant concordance was observed between these two series of narratives, the first
concerning (supposed) people who had left their physical bodies permanently (details of which necessarily came to us via mediums) and the second
concerning people, many of them sane and worthy of credence, who had
left their bodies only temporarily. We observed, "Tho correspondence in
independent narratives seems explicable only if both sets of narratives are
substantially true", and concluded, "In those temporary exteriorizations
which are enforced, much of the vehicleof vitality (see pp, 6, 11) is ejected
from the body and it more or less effectively enshrouds the Soul Body.
Hence, those who are forced out of their bodies by anaesthetic I, etc., contact either earth or "Hades" (semi-dream) conditions. We suggest that in
those temporary exteriorizations which occur naturally (apart from cases
of grave illness) only a little of the vehicle of vitality goes out with the
Soul Body". This study was carried further in More Astral Projections
(Aquarian Prees, 1964), where the number of cases cited was brought up
to 381.

In 1963 I saw, for the first time, "com-nunications" concerning astral
projection that had been received by Prescott Hall in America from 1909
to 1915 and had been published in J• ..4.. S. P. R., X, 1916. These "communications" were obtained by "a thorough-going sceptic" via a medium
who had neither interest in nor knowledge of such matters. I found that
the content of the "communications • agreed in a significant fashion with

the study of 1961: details were published in The Techniquesof Astral
Projection(Aquarian Press, 1964).The "communicators" knew more about out-of-the-bodyexperiencesand the methods by means of which they
might be induced than any living expert on the subject.
In 1965 I read, for the first time, Mrs. Sidgwick's Report, published
in Proe, S. P R. XXVIII, 1915, of Mrs. Piper's mediumship, including
"communications" receivedthrough her from 1888 to 1911. These chiefly
concernedthe permanent release from the body which we call death, but
some concerned temporary releases. This study will be given in a forthcoming book entitled On the Record.·· The Record of Mrs. Piper of Boston.
The agreement with our studies is obviously significant.
.
The las.t-me.ntionec;l.work.was barely..completedwhen I bad the-good
fortune tosee ProfessorM. Bliade'soutstanding investigationentitled Sha'monism. Archaic Techniquesof Ecstasy(Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964).
.The following pages, I, venture to believe, will show that the essentials of
both temporaryand permanentreleasesfrom the body, as indicated by the
studies published from 1961 to 1965,
known in prehistoric times at.most all over the world.
.'
.

(a) Descriptions by ancient shamans
(b) Descriptions by modern astral projectors
(c) Descriptions by modern seers

31
32
32

THIRD PART
I

THE INITIAL "BLACKOUT" IN CONSCIOUSNESS
(a) Descriptions by ancient shamans
(b) Descriptions by modern astral projectors
(ia) A "door", "glope", "sack", etc. - symbols of a
vehicle or"vitality that was closely inter woven
with the physical body, being released
(ib) The converse of the above - a "glove", etc. symbols of the re-entry of a "double" into the
body

34
34
41

41

41

(iia) The (first) momentary "blackout" in consciousness as the "double" separalesfrom the body, i.e.,

the first "death"

42

(iib) The converse of the above - a momentary

"blackout" as the "double" re-entersthe body...
THE RELEASE OF lHE "SOUL" FROM THE BODYEXIT VIA THE SOLAR PLEXUS
(a) Descriptions by ancient shamans
(b) Descriptions by modern astral projectors
(i) Astral projectors who observed their own
"cords"
(ii ) A clairvoyant's observations of his own condition
(iii) An observation of the "double" of another person in course of permanent release
(iv) A "communicator's" description of his own per
manent release
(v ) "Communicator's" generalised descriptions .. ...
III THE (INITIAL) OBLIQUE OR S~rRAL COURSE OF THE
(COMPOSITE) RELEASED "DOUBLE"
(ia) First-hand observations, by astral projectors,
of their temporarily-released "doubles"
( ib) The reverse of the above - the re-entry into
the body of temporally-released "doubles" .,.
( ii ) "Communcations" concerning the temporarily
released "doubles" of others
( iii) First-hand observations concerning the permanently-released "doubles" of others
VI THE "SILVER CORD" - EXTENSION BETWEEN THE
RELEASED "DOUBLES" AND THE VACATED BODY
(a) Descriptions by ancient shamans

42

II

45
45
45
46
47
47
47
47
49
49
50
50
50
51
51

V

(b) Descriptions by modern astral projectors of their own cords
(e) "Communications" concerning mediumistic trance ...
(d) "Communications" concerning the "cords" of astral
projectors
(e) The objectivity of the "cords"
(f) "Cord't-extensions of the newly-dead
( i ) The observations of an astral projector
(ii ) The observations of clairvoyants
(iii) Statements by "communicators" describing their
own "cords", seen during transition
(g) "Cords" that were extruded by tho" gods" towards mortals
THE CONDITION OF THE PHYSICAL BODY

54
57

57
58
62
6l
63
63
68

FOURTH PART
I

THE SECOND "DEATH" (UNVEILING OF SOUL BODY)
(a) Descriptions by ancient shamans
(b) Descriptions by modern astral projectors
( i ) Descriptions comparable to the shaman's "gate"
in a "wall"
(ii ) The simple symbols of "mist", "fog", "water",
etc. ("the river of death")
(iii) The simple terms "blackout" or "tunnel" ,.....
(iv) "The range of cord-activity" (=the distance
from the body "ithin which the "double" is
composite)
(e) Descriptions by clairvoyants (independent of mediumship)
(d) Descriptions by "somnambulists" (in mesmeric trance)
(e) Descriptions by initiates into the Mysteries
(f) Descriptions by a medium
(g) Tibetans' descriptions of the act of dying
(h) Descriptions by the "dead" - "communications" ... ...
( i ) The second "death" usually occurs 3-4 days
after physical death
(ii) The "mist" or "river of death"
(iii) "The range of cord-activity"
II THE REVERSE OF THE SECOND "DEATH" (RE·ENVEI·
LING OF THE SOUL BODY BEFORE RE-ENTERING
THE PHYSIC~BODY)
(a) Descriptions by ancient shamans
(b) Descriptions by astral projectors
(c) Descriptions by "communicators"
(d) Descriptions by a medium
III THE EXPANSION OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Dr. Robert Crookall
Coal Measure plants Edward Arnold & Co. Ltd., 1929.
The Kidston Collection of Fossil Plants. H. M. Stationery Office, 1938.
Fossil Plants of the Carboniferous Rocks of Great Britain. Section I I ibid.,
Part I, 1955 ; Part II, Part IU, 1964. Part. IV. 1965.
The Study and Practice of Astral Projection. University Books Inc., N.Y ..
U.S.A.
The.Techniques of Astral Projection. Aquarian Press Ltd, 1961..
The Supreme Adventure. James Clarke & Co. Ltd., 1961.
Intimations of Immortality, ibid., 1965.
During Sleep. The Possibility of "Co-operation". Theosophical Publishing
House Ltd., London 1964.
The Next World-and the Next. Ibid., 1966.
Events on the Threshold of the After Life, Darshana International,
Moradabad, India 1967.
The Mechanisms of Astral Projection, Darshana International, Moradabad,
.
India 1968.
The Interpreattlon of Cosmic & Mystical Experiences, James Clarke & Co.
London/Cambridge 1969.
Ecstasy-The Release of the Soul from the Body, Darshana Internatienal,
Moradabad, India 1973.
Seientitic Papers in :
The Geological Magazine.
The Annals of Botany.
Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain.
The Naturalist.
Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Phllosgpl,ia
Society.
Proceedings of the Geologists' Association.
Proceedings of the Royal Sobiety of Edinburgh.
Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society.
Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalist and Field Club.
Institute of Mining Engineers.
Proceedings of the South Wales Institute of En:i"eerl.
Fuel
Colliery Guardian.
World Science Review. etc.
With Dr. F. B. A. Welch:
British Regional Geology :
Bristol and Gloucester District. H. M. Stationery Office. 1935.

FIRST PART

ECSTASY'
The release of the
Soul from the body

Introduction
Professor Mircea Eliade's great book entitled Shamllnism. Archaic
Techniques of Ecstasy, translated from the French by W. R. Trask (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964) dealt with the work of prehistoric shamans.
These men were characterised by experiencingecstasy and by the fact that
they used it for the benefit of sick people and for the purposes of divination and prophecy. They clearly had some affinities with the prophets of
the Old Testament.
The fact seems to have been entirely overlooked that the experiences
of the ancient shamans exhibit significant resemblances to those of many.
often ordinary, men and women of today who have out-of-the-body experiences, popularly called astral projections.1d There is no question that
shamanic ecstasy can be simply equated with astral projection; nevertheless it would appear that they are not fundamentally distinct, since there
are all gradations between the two. Moreover, the same bodily mechanism
seems to be involved in both.

Introduction •
The Greek word ekstasis means to be out of the body -that the Soul,
which is conscious of sensations, is freed from the body, the stimulation of
which provides sensations. The word also denotes those feelings of rapture
and delight that characterise the condition of freedom from the body.
People who are in course of quitting the body permanently, if conscious,
are often observed to experience ecstasy, The dying George Gissing
wasd escribed by H.G. Wells8 b to be "exalted", while Dr.K Osis8C recently published "Deathbed Observations by Physicians and Nurses" in
which he observed that "elation" and "exaltation" were "quite frequent".
This type of feeling also characterises the process of quitting the body only
temporarily.
Astral projectors, as well as the ancient shamans, claim to have been
out of their bodies and to have then experienced feelings of rapture and
delight. Professor J. H. M. Whiteman? ; when temporarily freed from
his body, had "an inexpressible state of well-being"; Mme. 0' Esperance"
described her temporary release from the body as "a foretaste of life, real
and indisputable"; she experienced "joy ineffable". The "Prodigal?" said,
"My consciousness was alight with new energy". Mrs. "Willett?", on reentering her body, wished to go out again and so be "enlarged". The
Countess of Wydenbruck'! had "a feeling of indescribable bliss". Sir
Humphrey Davy declared "My emotions were sublime". Mrs. A. Neville
Woodcockv' described "ecstasy", Miss M. T. Johnson! "indescnbable peace
and exaltation". Frank Hives! "indescribable pleasure", Sir Patrick Hastings l 4 "ecstasy", etc.
It is surely significant that those astral projectors who described their
re-entrance into the body observed the reverse effect - consciousness became limited, enveiled or enshrouded. Just as "A. E." (George Russell),
the mystic, on re-entering his body, declared that he was "an exile from
light", so non-mystics who returned from pseudo-death, or suspended
animation, made pighly instructive observations: Mrs. Sarll l ' 2 compared
her body to "a coat", C. J. Jenkins likened his to "a cloak or skin", C. G.
Jung his to "a prison", etc. People who left their bodies when quite well
took the same attitude towards them: Lind l ' 2 "compared his to "a narrow
cell", and the Rev. 'George' Hepworth described his as "narrow quarters";
Mrs. Tarsikes spoke of "a cage". Mrs. "Manstead", like the pseudo-dead
Mrs. Sarli, of "a coat"; Yram of "a box" and Nancy Price of "a shell".
Professor Whiteman compared re-entering his body to "sinking into a
grave". The anaesthetised, OD re-entering their bodies, similarly called
them "shells", "envelopes". etc.l'l
The term astral projection has a bodily implication which is not imliped by the word "ecstasy", Many of those who have had astral projec-

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

tions insisted (and others more or less explicitly suggested) that the Soul,
mind, or consciousness left the physical body in a second, non-physical
body: this was a replica, or "double", of the physicat body. Investigators who deal with ecstatic experiences, and especially those of the ancients,
seldom consider whether the freedom Soul does, or does not, possess a
non-physical body. But modern people who describe their own releases
from the body (and they include children and illiterate adults who cannot
have obtained their accounts from reading books or articles) usually state
that they existed apart from a physical body in a non-physical "double"
of it. The modems commonly say, either explicitly or implicitly, that it
WQS this bodily condition which permitted the emotions of ecstasy and rapture.
We cite two typical examples of astral projections for purposes of
comparison. In the first case, that of the well-known author, William
Gerhardi, M. A., B. Litt., the released "double" was in earth-conditions
throughout.' Gerhardi found his "double" released from his body and
"suspended in mid-air". He was fulIy conscious and said to himself.
"Fancy that! Now would you have believed it? Now this is something
to telI! And this is not a dream!" He insisted, "I stood there, the same
living being... I WQS in my body of the resurrection [=the "astral" body or
"double"]. So that's what it's like! How utterly unforeseen! I had
staggered to the door. 1 felt the handle, but could not turn it. Then. turn
ning, I became aware of a strange appendage [to the released "double"].
At the back of me was a coil of light [= the" silver cord" -extension, doubt
less that which was mentioned by Ecclesiastes (xii, 6) - "Or ever the
silver cord be loosed.. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and
the spirit shall return to God who gave it"]. It was like a luminous garden
hose. resembling the strong broad ray of dusty ligh: at the back of a dark
cinema... To my utter astonishment. that broad cable of light at the back of
me illuminated the face on the pillow, as if attached to the brow ofthe sleeper. The sleeper was myself [= physical body]... Who would have thought
that I had a spare body at my disposal, adapted to the new conditions? But
I was not dead. My physical body was sleeping peacefully, while I was
apparently on my feet and as good as before.i.
" 'Now, how will 1 get out?' I thought ... At the same moment
1 was pushed forward. The door passed through me. or I passed
through the door. 1 entered my bathroom, affecting from habit to switch
on the light, but unable to press it down.' There was this rmcannytape of
light between us. like the umbilical cord. by means of which the body on
the bed was kept breathing. 'Not to be scientific', I said. 'This is one
chance in a million. You must convince yourself so that nothing later will
make you think it was merely a dream'. All this I said to myself while
going round and collecting such evidence as: that window is open; that

Introduction •

curtain is drawn; this is the new towel-heater .. 1 noticed a familiar outline of myself in the looking-glass.
" 'What evidence? What more evidence?' 1 kept asking myself ..
Now 1 could fly anywhere, to New York, etc., visit a friend if 1 liked, it
wouldn't take me a moment. But I feared tlutt something might happen to
sever the link with my sleeping body ..
"Whom could 1 visit? And at that moment a' thought occurred to
me - let me visit my friend Max Fisher at Hastings .. 1 flew off through
the front door ... 1 was stepping over an open patch of grass... The thought
occurred to me, 'How do 1 know 1 am not dreaming this ?' And the answer - 'Look for the lighted cord behind you I' I looked round. It was
there. That satisfied me 1 was not dreaming ... Then, with a jerk ... 1 was
in my bedroom.
"Not a detail of my experience had been lost to my mind. and there
was quite another quality about it all, that of reality, which removed it from
the mere memory of a dream. We had a duplicate body [=the non-physical
replica, or "double", of the physical body] all there and ready for use
... It seemed that, for the first stage of survival, at any rate, we already had
a body, stored away. it is true, like a diver's suit, but nevertheless neatly
folded up in our own everyday bodies. always at hand in case of death or for
special use.

"I got up, and went through the rooms, checking the mental notes I
had made about which windows were closed or open, which curtains
drawn, and the evidence in all cases proved correct".
Gerhardi cogitated as follows: "I have always considered that, intellectually, the case for and against survival was pretty equally balanced.
Now, after having surprised myself [Soul]. with my senses and consciousness
unimpaired, in a duplicate body. the scale went down heavily for susviva],
Gone was the notion that the Soul was like a fleecy cloud - that body was
real enough;»." .
Mme. d 'Esperance', when out of her body, visited both "Hades" and
"Paradise". She lay on a sofa, reading, at the time, and felt "a faint sinking sensation [ =Ihe "double" began to separate from, and rise above. the
body, with consciousness continuing, for a short time, in the body]. The
printed puges becQ11U! indistinct: Everything became dark [ =the momentary
"blackout" in consciousness as "double" and body separated. during which
brief period neither could transmit consciousness - just as when we change
gears in a car there is a momentary break in the transmission of power].
"The faintnesspassed away almost immediately. 1 glanced at my
book: it now seemed far away and dim. 1 [=released "double"] had mo-

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul Cromthe body

ved away from the sofa, but somebody else [=physical body] washoldiog
the book. 1 had a marvellous sense ofhealth, strength andpower .. For the
first time 1 knew what il was to live...
"Nearby I saw a friend [ = a discamat e "helper"]. He spoke, or perhaps
he did not use language, though I understood: 'Did I see where I was 7'
Yes... Gloomy, overhangingrocks were on each side ... 11was dark and cheerless, surrounded by a cold mist [="Hades" conditions: Mme. d' Esperance
contacted these because the "double" she had released was composite-it in-

'eludednot only the "super-physical" Soul Body but also a significant portion
of her "semi-physical" vehicle of vitality].
"Llooked farther. Afar offa brilliant gleam of light burst out ... A
sense of motion, increasing light, intense living radiance [=the vehicleof vitality that had hitherto enshrouded her Soul Body and therefore restricted her
awareness to "Hades" conditions, was being shed/rom her "double", i. e.,
she was passing through the equivalent of the second "death", or rather unveiling, and therefore about to contact 'Paradise" conditions through the
unenshrouded Soul Body]. And then - who can describe the indescrib-

able? Time [imposed on the Soul by its having to operate through the
physical body] had disappeared; space [ditto] no longer existed. I knew
that 1 was part of this undying, indestructible whole. The 'light' of this
great life penetrated me, and 1 understood that thoughts were the only
real, tangible substances, and why, between my [discarnate] friend and
me, utterance was not needed...
"I saw [in "Paradise" conditions] living, radiant beings... while there
were others [in "Hades"] for whom 1 felt an intense compassion and an
irresistible desire to draw them nearer to me... The 'light' had entered my
Soul and I was filled with joy ineffable"...
"J prayed, 'Help me to help others!' I was drawn to a misty cold-like
region in which one felt stifled [the Soul Body began to be re-enshrouded,
in order that she could re-contact "Hades" conditions, with some of the
substance of her vehicle of vitality - she was experiencing the reverse 0/ the
equivalent of the second "death" so that she could be a helper to "earthbound" Souls - to those who.].or various reasons, were delayed in "Hades"
conditions]... The atmosphere had become close, thick and substantial.

A feeling almost of fear and anxiety oppressed me, and I felt a desire to
escape.. " Yet 1 combatted the instinct... Something in the vaporous misti·
ness, in the forms and shapes, recalled the dream life ["sub conscious"
levels, due to the enshrouding effect of the vehicle of vitality]
I knew
that in this region [the "semi-physical "Hades" belt or sphere of the total
earth, corresponding to the "semi-physical" vehicle of vitality of man's
total human body] the dream-life was lived.. I became aware that, to come
within theirk~it, I too must clothe myself with 'mist' [=the Soul Body must

Introduction •

be impregnated, or contaminated, with a significant portion of the vehicle
of vitality, enshrouding it and reducing the reactivity]. It was a repugnant thought, yet I would do it. The longing had taken me from a world
of radiant light [=the "Paradise" belt or sphere of the total earth], of love
and sympathy, and brought me to this dim, shadowy world ["Hades"
belt]. (must clothe myself [Soul Body] witb this 'mist' ., ( bad to show
these poor, struggling creatures that, beyond the 'shadows', there is a living reality, absolute and perfect; that the treasure I had grasped might be
theirs also - that they might have their freedom [Compare I Peter iii,
19]...
"The same sense offaintness and depression [= the"blackout" as the
"double" re-entered the body] and I was again conscious of lying on my
couch.... Had I not known better, I should have said that the earthly
scenes were the realities and the ["Pa.radise"] world ( had visited the dream
-world.... fhey may say that my experience was a dream, but I know that
it was a foretaste of life, real and indisputable. During the remainder of
my journey through the 'shadows' it will help me to bear with patience
whatever may befall, and give me courage to fight to the end'''.

Astral projectors always describe "Paradise" conditions as beautiful
and peaceful-but they commonly state that they do not enter full "Paradise" conditions, and this is doubtless for three main reasons: (a) the fact
tbat a "silver cord"--extension exists between the released Soul Body and
the vacated physical body causes some loss of effectivenessin the former;
(b) the Soul Body is not, in fact complete, since part of its substance is
contained in the "cord"-extension; (c) there is probably always some slight
tincture of impregnation of the Soul Body with substance from the vehicle
of vitality in the "double", very slightly enshrouding the Soul Body] : this
matter is mentioned in More Astral Projections.
"Hades" conditions are described by numerous astral projectors in
similar terms - as "misty", "cloudy", "vapoury" even "watery" (bence
doubtless the ancient idea of "the river of death"), as "heavy", "murky"
"dim", "dark", etc. It is-surely significant that a second group of people,
namely the dying, and a third, namely clairvoyants, as well as supposed
"communicators" from "the other side", all use identical terms-see More
Astral Projections.s"
We have indicated grounds for concluding that the "doubles" that
were seen and described by many astral projectors were not mere hallucinations, mental images, etc., but objective non-physical bodies, such as
were mentioned by St. Paul (I Cor. xv, 35, 44). We pointed out 17 , "There
is clearly a definite tendency for people whose "doubles" leave their bodies
in a natural manner to enjoy 'higher' levels of consciousness (permitting
more significant and detailed observations) and to enter 'higher' environ-

•

EeSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

ments than those with whom the release of the "double" was enforced.
This difference is readily explained if these "doubles" were objective
(though non-physical) bodies: it is inexplicable if the "doubles" were
merely imagined.
"Apart from, and in addition to, the significanceof the differencebetween natural and enforcedreleases of "doubles", certain observations are
readily uqderstood on the hypothesis that these "doubles" were objective;
they are inexplicable on the hypothesis that they were merely imagined :
(I) The "double" (of non-mediumistic men) was observed to leave via
the head; (2) a "blackout" occurred on its release; (3) the released
"double" was at first horizontal, over the physical body; (4) a "blackout" occurred on the re-entry of the "double" into the body - as exemplified in the case of Mme. d' Esperance, cited above; (5) rapid reentry caused shock and repercussion; (6) a "silver cord"-extension was
seen between the released "double" and the vacated body.

II
The incidenc.e of the

experiences

(a) Ancieot shamaoie experiences (ecstasy)

Professor Eliade18 pointed out that tbe techniques, experience and
ideology of ecstasy were widespread in very ancient times in Central Asia
(e. g., among Siberian bunters), Australia, the Malay Archipelago,
S. America, N.America, etc. A little later-probably about 25,000 B.C.representations in Europe of a bird [=the Soul, using a "double" that
was liberated from the physical body] and indications of guardian and
helping spirits [= "deliverers"] and of ecstatic experiences are present.
Professor Eliade rejects (he idea that ecstasy was a product of some
form of civilisation. He is convinced that ecstasy is "fundamental in the
human condition and hence known to the whole ofarchaic humanity". (This
does not, of course, alter the fact that its interpretation and evaluation
tended to become modified by various forms of culture and religion).
(b) Modem out-of-.tbe-body experiences (astral projections)

In More Astral Projectional' we pointed out that Neville Randall, of
the Daily Sketch, in collaboration with Lt-Col. Reginald Lester, Chairman of the Churches' Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies (5
Denison House, Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, S. W. I), made an investigation of various psychic pbenomena and, in 1960, published the resuits in a booklet entitled Life After Death. The second section of this
booklet was concerned with out-of-the-body experiences, and included reo
ference to the work of Miss Frances Banks, M.A. , a psychologist. Miss
Banks sent a questionnaire to 800 churchgoers, asking for any psychic experiences. One of her questions was: "Have you ever seemed to project
out of your body? If so, wb.ere did you find yourself?" No less than

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

45% of those who replied had experienced astral projection. Many readers of the Daily Sketch sent their own experiences to Nevil1e Randall,
and some were published in the booklet Life After Death. Randall's own
conclusions were unequivocal. After reporting "Probably the most amazing post-bag ever sent to a newspaper", he continued. "It revealed,
among other things, that astral projection - the experience of leaving and
returning to the physical body - is a common event", and concluded,
"It now seems impossible to doubt that such things happen often to ordinary people".
Sylvan J. Muldoon, who has had many out-of-the-body experiences.
wrote The Projection of the Astral Body (Rider & Co. Ltd., 1929). He' o
found it "hard to believe that conscious astral projection is not universally
known". He 2l described "astral somnambulism", i. e., the condition in
which the "double", or astral body, becomes free from its physical counterpart and moves about independently of it, but is not used as a vehicle
of consciousness, as "far more common than is generally supposed".
Dr. Horace Leaf, Ph. D., F. R. G. S.22pointed out that, while projection is very common, the separation of the "double" from the body is
often incomplete. Staveley Bulford'" said, "Every individual possesses
an etheric double [ =etheric or astral body]. This can be separated and travel" But, although theoretically projection is possible to everyone, he realised that many people require special training to project. He insisted,
"The projection of the etheric double is One of the natural phenomena of
normal human life".
Oliver Fox" observed, "The reader with no practical experience of
projection may incline to the view that the projection is only seeming ...
But let him follow my methods•••and 1 think he will be-convincedthat he
has a Soul and that it does leave the body in these experiments",
In Tibet (possibly, in part, on account oftb.e rarefied atmosphere which
limits the oxygenation of the blood and therefore the functioning of the
brain) astral projections are said to be common events: so much so that
they have a uame for projectors, i. e., "delogs", meaning "those who return from the beyond".
Mrs. Eileen J. Garrett." whose outstanding ability and patent integrity are universally recognised, stated: "What is not generally accepted by science. but which I nevertheless know to be true, is that everyone
has a 'double'. of finer substance than the physical body - the astral or
etheric [here = the "super-physical" Soul] Body". She continued, "Thia
is not to be confused with 'the surround' [=the "semiphysical" vehicle of
vitality] which remains in position enveloping the body. while the 'double'
Soul Body can be projected. It is by means of this 'double' that either
accidental or conscious projection is accomplished". Later,le Mrs. Garrett

10

The incidence of the experiences

•

observed. "This projection should be more fully understood; for I am always coming into contact with numbers of people who had experienced it
and have been afraid to accept its significance. I believe that projection
takes place more often than any of us realise, and that it happens very
easily when we are emotionally disturbed or when we are ill, and tlie physical hold upon ourselves [Souls, using the Soul Body] is less tenacious".
A Frenchman, Yram,Z7 like the American Muldoon and the Englishman Oliver Fox, considered that "The separation of the bodies [Soul Body
and physical body] during sleep is perfectly normal, but takes place only
after the physical brain-consciousness has ceased to function, so that most
of us are entirely unaware of it". He added, much like Mrs. Garrett, "To
be aware of it without explanation can lead to a feeling of panic amounting to insanity". Again, "Shock or accident can momentarily drive a
person [= Soul in the Soul Body] out of his physical body like an anaesthetic".
H. P. Prevost Battersb yZ8 regarded "the business of the 'double' as
quite ordinary": he, doubtless rightly, concluded that if a man's "double"
is naturally loosely associated with his body - "easily detachable" - he
can readily project it and so develop certain psychic powers; but if it is
very closely enmeshed with the body, then psychic abilities cannot develop
except after "special cultivation". (Compare the "communication', received
by Allan Kardec in 1857, cited on p. 13).
A. Horngate, Z900 the basis of personal experience, was "convinced
that we probably travel much more in sleep than we recollect - unless
startled awake".
Mrs. Muriel Hankey" had a spontaneous projection of the "double".
She thereafter soon found that the act of quitting the body could be cultivated. She and Mr. McKenzie frequently met in their "doubles". She
claimed to be able to distinguish between projection and mere dreams, on
the one hand, and clairvoyance on the other.
S. A. Wildman, an American lawyer, gave an account of his "dreams" in Psychical Research. 81 Among them were "dreams" of flying and
riding a cycle "with incredible swiftness and without conscious effort", of
swinging (though realising, quite clearly, there was no swing), "dreams"
such as Muldoorr" claimed to represent astral projections. J. Malcolm
Bird, the Editor of Psychical Research, wrote, in a footnote, that these
dreams "are common to all of us, and constitute a very definite category
of experiences". He added, "I suppose most dreamers, as with myself,
find (he most common of all the dreams of this group is that of progressing
in prodigiously long, floating strides [a phenomenon also mentioned by Dr.
Eliade S3 in connection with shamanic ecstasy, by the Tibetans (Dr. W. Y.

•

ECSTSY. The release of the Soul from the body

'11

Evans-Wentz)S40 and by Muldoon in connection with astral projections .see p. 21. Imagining that one is flying, riding, etc., is among the techniq ues deliberately employed by' would-be projectors, as indicated below).
The attempt to explain this category of dreams on a basis of race-history
seems to me less successful than in the case of the falling dreams, etc. Its
application on the basis of subconscious desire is... not wholly satisfactory,
inasmuch as the desire for a more birdlike motion can hardly be deeply
rooted enough, in enough persons, to meet the demands made upon it by
such a theory. Where Mr. Wildman says that he was "in control of my
movements and so enjoyed the power and was proud of, it", he strikes a
further common denominator with my own experience and, I believe, with
the generality, in this dream".
.
Another American, John Mittl, of Kempton, Pennsylvania, was cited
by Harold Sherman, who engaged in the long-distance telepathic experiment with Sir Hubert Wilkins that was published in Thoughts Through
Space. 3S as stating that" Astral projections occur to everyone, at one time
or another, while sleeping or while in an unconscious state". He added,
«However, the great proportion of these are not remembered upon.awakening",

Dr. H. J. F. Laubscher, a South African medical man and psychiatrist, described many projections, and observed, "The evidence of many
people strongly suggests that astral travel is quite common - except that
few people retain a clear memory of the experience".
Yogi Yogananda'" said, "Thousands of earth-dwellers have momentarily glimpsed an astral being often a "hinderer" or a "helper" or an astral world usually either "Hades" or "Paradise" ."
It will be seen that both ecstasy (of the ancients) and astral projection
(of moderns) are considered to be of practically universal occurrence. The
question of the tardiness of memory, and which was raised by Dr. Laubscher, was briefly considered by the present writer,a8 who wrote as follows:
"Some readers may ask, 'If, as Mrs. Garrett declared from personal experience, and Neville Randall discovered from correspondence, astral projections are common events that apply to quite ordinary folk, why have we
failed to undergo one?' The answer is obvious - the failure is not in the
occurrence but in the memory of the occurrence. The mistake is to suppose
that it is easy to remember an out-of-the-body experience after one has reentered the body, The physical brain must be involved in all that we remember in our "normal" in-the-body state. But the physical brain was
not involved in the astral projection. As Bergson said, "The physical brain
is an organ whereby we forget [out-of-the-body experiences, etc.]",
Although they have not considered this memory-aspect of out-of-thebody experiences, many of our most eminent psychical researchers haye

The incidence of the experiences •

made parallel observations on evidential grounds. Professer H. H. Price,
Dr. Hereward Carrington, G. N. M. Tyrrell, etc., all concluded that telepathy is operating at all times between all people. This may well be true
- but very few people indeed are aware of ("remember") the receipt of a
single telepathic impression in the course of their whole lives. The reason,
as with out-of-the-body experiences, is doubtless the "blinkering" effect of
the brain. If our personalities were to be interfused with those of others,
it would affect the proper development of responsibility, and that in turn,
of morality. On the other hand, if we "remembered" our out-of the-body
experiences in too great detail, they would unfit us for earth-life.t"
We have pointed cutt! that out-of-the-body activities are Soul Body
activities and, in order to "remember" them in "normal" consciousness,
they must somehow pass through the brain of the physical body. "If I
pick up a poker and stir the fire, I receive certain stimuli and therefore feel
sensations of weight, smoothness, hardness and coldness; these sensations
affect the physical brain and can, therefore, be recalled. But if (supposing
the possibility) I perform an act with the Soul Body independently of the
physical body. this makes no impression on, or modification in - leaves
no "trace" in - the physical brain, and is most unlikely to be "remembered" through it when I re-enter the physical body and 'wake up' to the
physical world".

III
The total bodil4 constitution of man
(a) Descriptiom by ancient sbamaD!l

Professor Eliade4 2 pointed out that, according to numerous myths and
legends of world-wide distribution, the "hero" was carried to the underworld, i. e., "Hades", or to the "sky", i, e., "Paradise", by an "animal".
With the Buryat shamans this "animal" was his "double", his alter ego-"one of the shaman's 'souls' [i, e., bodies or vehicles] - the' Soul in animal form', more precisely, 'the life soul' ".
Just as there are differences of opinion among modern theologians as
to whether a man already, here and now, possesseshis "body of the resurrection" (i. e., his Soul Body - not, it should be noted, the 'life soul', or
vehicle of vitality, just mentioned), or acquires it after death, so there were
differences of opinion among ancient shamans. Professor Eliade&8 cited E.
M. Loeb to the effect tbat, among the Mentaweians, the candidate for
shamanic initiation, i, e., ritualistic death followed by resurrection, was
carried to "Paradise" by celestial spirits [those "helpers" who act as "deliverers", tbe equivalents of earthly midwives] "and there received a marvellous [Soul] Body like theirs". On the other hand, the concept of 'be
bird-soul, implying that (as all astral projectorsobserve) mortals already
possess a Soul Body, was documentedin the religions of the archaic Near
East. The Egyptian Book of the Dead likened the Soul of a newly-dead
man to a falcon flying away. The Yakut believed that, at death, both
"good" and "bad" men ascended to the "sky" like birds. In Mesopotamia the dead were imagined as birds. This does not, of course, mean that
tbe shamans necessarily supposed that human beings who died took the

14

The total bodily constitution of man

•

fro m of birds, but that they rose like birds from the earth. ascending to tile
"sky",
Professor Eliade" also said, "In the prehistoric monuments of Europe
and Asia the Cosmic Tree is depicted with two birds in its branches .. Jn the
mythologies of Central Asia, Siberia and Indonesia the birds perched on
the branches of the World Tree represent men's Souls". He continued,
"Because shamans can change themselves into 'birds', i. e, because they
enjoy 'spirit' conditions [=are able to release the Soul Body from immersion in the physical body, so that it rises to "Paradise" much as a bird rises to
the sky], they are able to fly to the World Tree to bring back Soul-birds.
The bird perched on a stick [the "stick" representing the "silver cord"extension between the released Soul Body and the vacated physical body]
is a frequent symbol in shamanic circles (e. g., the Yakut shamans, in
Hungary. etc.) ... It is certain that the motif 'bird perched on a post' [=8
released Soul. in its Soul Body. with the "silver cord't-extension trailing
down from it to the vacated physical body] is extremely archaic". [Nevertheless. many modern men who have passed through Masonic initiation
have seen it, for many are conducted round the Lodge by two Wardens,
each bearing a stick with a bird perched on the top. Masonry is, in part"
a relic of the ancient Mysteries: the "bird" is the released Soul, and the
"stick" is the "silver cord" that trails down from it to the body.]'
(b) Descriptions by modem astral projectors.

The bodily feature that the shaman, cited above, called "the life Soul"
clearly corresponds to what Dr. Rudolf Steiner46 called "the ether body",
"the body of formative forces", "the etheric double", "the life body" and
"the vital body", the last-given name being also used by Max Heindel"
and by several other seers. It is the "semi-physical" vehicle of vitality, the
" Pranamayakosha", i.e., vehicle of Prana (cosmic vitality) of the ancient
Hindus. Frau Hauffe, an uneducated German lady, who saw her own,
partly extruded, vehicle of vitality, called it "the nerve soul" and "the
nerve spirit". 47
This bodily feature quits the physical body, if at all, via the solar
plexus (so that, if seen, the "cord't-extension seems to be attached there.
(See also Third Part, Section II). The Soul Body, on the other hand, us-

ually quits the physical body via the head (and the "cord"-extension is
seen to be attached to the head, as described by William Gerhardi, p. 3).
This "super-physical" body, a primary vehicle of consciousness in man,
can leave the physical body and travel great distances on earth, as well as
visiting the "super-physical" "Paradise", an ability which was appropriately symbolised by shamans and Freemasons in depicting it as a bird. It
will be clear that the vehicle of vitality consists of substance which, being
subtler than physical matter, is "semi-physical" and being ideo plastic, is

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

]5

"semi- mental". The Soul Body consists of still more subtle and reactive
substance; it is "super-physical" or "semi-Spiritual". The vehicle of
vitality is more or less closely enmeshed in, or interwoven with, the
physical tissues, and therefore is projected, if at all, slowly and with some
difficulty; the Soul Body, on the other band, is only partially incarnated
and therefore projects easily and quickly. It will be clear that, if these
conceptions have some correspondence in truth (and numerous facts are
inexplicable except on that hypothesis), then these particular "doubles"
are not, as is Considered by some psychiatrists, mere mental images of
physical bodies, but objective, though non-physical, bodies. In this case,
then, like our physical bodies, they are presumably derived from, and are
eventually returned to, corresponding objective (though nonphysical)
"realms", "spheres", etc.-the vehicle of vitality to the "Hades" realm
(which, doubtless, is closely interwoven with the physical earth), and the
Soul Body to the "Paradise" realm, which is less immersed in it).
One further point: it is observed that (l) when a significant portion of
the vehicle of vitality (only) leaves a physical body (as, for example, in the
production of "materialisations"), it always remains within a few feet of
the body, since the vehicle of vitality is essentially part of the total physical body and, indeed, its total extrusion necessarily involves the death of
the body; (2) when a composite "double" [=Soul Body plus a significant
portion of the vehicle of vitality) leaves a physical body temporarily- as
occurs with mediutr istic people.including shamans-it also is unable to get
far from the body (the average distance being about 3 1 / 2 feet);48 0) when
a composite "double"( =Soul Body plus the whole of the vehicle of vitality)
leaves a physical body permanently, i.e., at death (and this applies to both
mediumistic and non-mediumistic people), it also is held within a few feet
oftbe body (the average distance also being about 3 1/deet).49 With both
mediumistic astral projectors and the newly-dead (the latter according to
"communicators") the composite nature of the "double" rendered them
"body-bound" and therefore "earthbound" at first. Once, however, they
passed through the second "death", shedding the vehicle of vitality from
the "double", they were released from the bondage of the physical bo:ly,
with its limitations of time and space, and they ascended, like a bird,
with the possibility of entering "Paradise". This matter of the distance
between "double" and body under the various possible conditions, hitherto entirely overlooked, as clearly highly significant.
As already said, shamans were essentially practical men who dealt
with helping the sick, etc. We cannot expect them to have envisaged a
correlation of correspondence between the total body of m 10 (the microcosm) and the total body of the earth (the Macrocosm)-or 10 have realised
that differences in the composition of an extruded "dou ble" determined
differences in the "level" of consciousness available to the shaman and in
the "sphere" contacted (whether "Hades" with possible "hinderers" or

16

The total bodily constituuon ofman

•

"Paradise" with numerous "helpers").
A study of modern out-of-the-body experiences shows that extruded
"doubles" are not all of the same composition: some consist of substance
from the vehicle of vitality only (and these show no intelligence or initiative, being mere "ghosts" of living men); many consist of the Soul Body
only, with, perhaps, the merest tincture of substance from the vehicle of
vitality; some are composite, consisting of the Soul Body plus a significant
amount of the vehicle of vitality. The extrusion of much of the vehicle of
the vehicle of vitality may indicate grave illness; its complete extrusion
of a simple "double" composed of the Soul Body, a. well as that of a
composite "double", quite often takes place in perfect health (as well as
under emotional stress, in illness, as the result of a fall or shock, etc.). If
the vehicle of vitality of the person concerned is closely knit with his body,
the Soul Body only tends to be released. The more loosely the vehicle of
vitality is associated with the body, the more likely the "double" is to be
at first composite - it will tend to include a significant portion of the vehicle of vitality. People with loose vehicles of vitality are of a mediumistic constitution, and the facts indicate that the ancient shamans were in
this category. (This does not mean that either those modern astral projectors or those ancient shamans who possessed loose vehicles of vitality
practised trance mediumship - far from it - it does, however, mean that
there was a possibility, given the desire and the application of the necessary
techniques, of developing mediumship).
These ideas concerning important differences between people, depending on the relative tightness or looseness of the vehicleof vitality, are given
in many "communications". For example, Allan Kardec'" asked, Does the
greater or less degree of somnambulistic [mesneric trance] clairvoyance
depend on the physical organisation [on the relative looseness of the vehicle of vitality, tending to produce a negative, or trance medium], or on
the nature [whether active or sluggish] of the spirit incarnating in it [tending to produce a self-controlled, positive, undissociated psychie, a clairvoyant rather than a medium whose body is temporarily possessed by a
communicator]" The "communicators" replied, "Oh both; but there are
physical qualities [looseness of the vehicle of vitality] that allowthe spirit
in its "double" or perispirit to liberate himself more or less easily".
The study of modern astral projectors who have the mediumistic constitution shows that the originally composite "double" (through which they
contact "Hades" conditions, with possible "hinderers"), typically undergoes a change and becomes simple: that part of the "double" that was extruded from the vehicle of vitality is shedfrom the "double" and returns
(doubtless down the "silver cord't-extension) to the physical body - to
which it essentially belongs. Hitherto, this component of the "double"
had enshrouded the Soul Body: DOW the latter is unenshrouded and ascends

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

• 17

to "Paradise" conditions (with many "helpers"). This process is equivalent to the second "death" (or, better, Soul-unveiling), described by "communicators" as occurring. on an average, some three jays after physical
death. The "Hades" period is normally a rest between earth-life and the
entrance into "Paradise" : most people sleep through it. It is surely significant that a similar condition is described, independently of mediumship,
as applying to mediumistically-constituted people in their temporary outof-the-body experiences.
The ancient shaman (who, like the astral projector, was not a (medium) described this intermediate state in the passage from earth to "Paradise" in significant terms-as like crossing a "bridge", as a perilous or a
dangerous "passage", a "strait gate", ere, The ancient shaman, so like the
modern astral projector who possessesa "loose" vehicle of vitality, contacted "Hades" and remained in that condition until the composite "double"
passed through the second "death", when, with a motion (but not a form)
that was bird-like, he "flew" in the Soul Body, contacting "P~radise;' conditions.
We have interpreted the ancient shamans' experiences in terms of those
of modern astral projectors (details of which are availa:bie from all over
the world, some having been corroborated by independent observers): there
seem to be fewshamanic references to non-physical bodies (whether vehicle
of vitality or Soul Body or an admixture of the two). This is understandable; the "double" is a replica of the body. But, as we shall see later,
there are many descriptions by shamans (using various terms) of something
that they would regard as noteworthy, since it is not a feature of the adult
body; this is the non-physical "silver cord" - it implies a non-physical
body, since many facts indicate that it is essentially an extension between
the released "double" and the vacated physical body.

Profeasor Eliade&lquoted Harva to the effect the Siberiao shamao was often
carried form the uoderworld, I. e., "Hades", back to earth by a "bird", e. g., an
. "eagle" the released "double", io this case in/udiog a significant perticn of the
vehicle of vitality]. Among the Goldi he could Dot "desed" to "Hades" without
a"bird.spirit" [ditto]. while E. BickermaolB pointed out that cenain Greek sorcerers professed to provide tbe dead with "wiogs" to "fly" to "heaveD", a variant
of the same inea. Tbey did net necelsarily suppose that the Soul had the form
of a bird: the f1igbtof a bird corresponded to their first-baod observatioosllB to
what happened to the Soul [Body] of the shamao and that of the oewly-dead
mao - it ascended from the physical body aDd the world.

IV
The realms, "Spheres" "Planes"
Environments (or conditions'
contacted
(a) Desaibed by aucient shamans - earth, "Hades" and '''Paradise''
Shamans claimed to leave their bodies and thereafter to visit three
main "worlds", "spheres", etc., i.e., (a) various distant physical localities
(sometimes returning, it should be noted, with veridical information not
normally obtainable); (b) the "underworld" or "Hades" and (c) the "sky"
or "Paradise". Professor Eliade insisted that the characteristic of the shaman is that he is "a great master of ecstasy" - able, at will, temporarily
to leave his body and visit one or more of these three realms.
(b) Described by modem astral projectors

Innumerable astral projectors have made claims similar to those made
by the shamans. William Gerhardi (p. 3) and Muldoon saw earth- scenes
only; Mme. d'Esperance (p.4) entered both "Hades" and "Paradise".
These matters will be considered in greater detail on a later page: they are
here mentioned to draw attention to the correlation between the total bodily constitution of man and that of the earth, between the microcosm and
the Macrocosm.

Actin~ as though -diving, ascending or flying, in order to induee ecstasy, was mentioned by Professor Eliade." These techniques, it may be
said, were recommended for the production of astral projections in certain
"communications" from supposed discarnate Tibetans. These "communications" were obtained by prescott Hall (who was thorougly sceptical as to
the possiblity of quitting the body by these, or any other, means) through
the mediumship of Mrs. Minnie E. Keeler (who had read nothing about
the subject and had no interest in it).64
Whereas Professor Eliade regards bodily movements of this type as
no more than "imitations" of physical activities, the present writer holds
that they have great significance - that they involve the deliberate, constructive use of the. image-ereating faculty, combined with faith. Even Mrs.
Keeler's "communicators" (who would be regarded by some people as
mere fragments of her own personality - and she herself had no education) made this point. We55 cited the "communicators" as saying, .. Imagination actually creates conditions in the astral world [=" Hades" and
"Paradise"], and, "What we ordinarily call 'imagination' is really exercising the astral senses. Whereae in this [physical] world, if we imagine
ourselves as going to a certain city, our thought is the only result: in the
astral world we should go there, at last if we wished. So, if we imagine
our astral body as climbing out of the physical, or swinging from side to
side, we have nothing as a result except the fact of our imagining. But
in the astral world our thought has actually set the astral body in motion,

•

ECSTAS Y. The release of the Soul from the body

21

although we cannot, while in the physical body, see that this is so. In
other words, thought is creative in the astral world, and whatever we 'will'
tends to be brought about".
(b) Descriptions by modem astral projectors

We have already mentioned the motions of flying, etc. in connection
with the "dreams" of S. A. Wildman (p.IO). Muldoon" observed, "There
are several variations of the flying dream ... Remember, 'projection dreams'
are almost invariably 'true action' dreams. If you could control your
dreams, you could control the movements of the dream-body ["double"].
One variation of the flying dream is the 'SWimming dream' ... This always
occurs while the astral body is worming along, lying in a horizontal position in the air. Another variation is that in which the dreamer is standing upright, and is moving at great speed over the surface of the earth, or
along a street, etc. One is actually doing this in the dream-body ["double"] during many such dreams ... I have awakened in this dream several
times, to find myself doing this in reality in the astral ... Again, there is the
'giant stride' dream [Compare Malcolm Bird, p.lO] ... This is another 'true
action' dream .. Although there is motion of the limbs [due to habit] .. it
is not t~e actual-step which drives the, [astral] body forward".
Dr. Alice Gilbert actually reported a demonstration of these matters.
She lay down and "imagined" that her "Soul" was leaving her body.
She said, "Suddenly this was not an imagined vision I ["double"] was
no longer on the divan but outside it".
Faith, like imagination, is often misunderstood. Whereas it is often
supposed to represent self-deceit, it may actually be self-expression.
Dr. Nandor Fodor&8said, "D.D. Home was the most famous medium
for imparting his powers to [=inducing mediumship in] others. Cases are
on record in which he levitated others. Once he imparted the power of
elongation to Mrs. Bertolacci, and he bestowed immunity to fire in a number of cases on his sitters. But there was a condition. The sitters had
to have faith. 'Now, if you have sufficient faith, let me place this coal in
your hand', he said to Miss Douglas on April 3, 1869. Miss Douglas first
dreaded the test, then held out her hand. She was not in the least burned
" The account continues: "Home took the coal and requested Miss
Douglas to touch it; she placed her fingers near it, but withdrew them immediately, saying that it burned her". The explanation is, probably, that
in the first experiment, the "live" coal was insulated from Miss Douglas's
hand by a film of ectoplasm from Home's vehicle of vitality: had she
lacked faith, the ectoplasm, which is "biddable" and subject to mental
suggestions, would not have insulated her hand. When, apart from Home,
she advanced her fingers towards the coal, it burned her- Home's protect.ve film of ectoplasm was not available, and she had not got a"loo~e"

22

Bodily movements (Diving and flying) that facilitate

•

vehicle of vitality and could not, therefore, produce one. Success demanded not merely faith but also the ectoplasmic film).
On May 24, 1910Gerald Balfour" was told by a "communicator",
via Mrs. "Willett", that belief in the personality of the "communicator"
was "an absolutely vital part of the conditions which make it easy for us
to work", and it is interesting to note tbat, after her death in July, 1958,
Mrs. "Willett" communicated via Geraldine Cummins" (who had not read
Balfour's Report) as follows: "Even temporary belief on the part of the
sitter and autonomist in the personality of the communicator is a vital part
of the conditions. It makes it so much easier for us to work". The "communicator" continued, "I held more than a belief in them. I knew them
better than many human beings, acquaintances of mine". In a chapter
headed "Lines of Communication", Geraldine Cummins described the
method she had employed to obtain the "communications" cited - "The
advice which was somehow transmitted to me was this: in the quiet of
the evening I was first to concentrate on stillness; secondly to desire the
fulfilment of my need; and thirdly to imagine it fulfilled". [compare
matter, xxi, 2~]. She was told that, "The desire seems as a little boat on
a lake or sea of the imagination. There, driven forward by the wavesof the
imagination, it can, on certain occasions, reach the objective chosen". (See
Appendix I)

·The "communicator" made an Importaot aDd a doubtleaa true additioD. ODe
that is worthy of conlideratioD: "The lame thin, I. truo or the ph,ucal body.
lhough, as tho matter of which tb. latter il compoacd I. moro dODleand hal more
inertia, It is harder to briDg about result....

II
Dancing and whirling facilitate the
Experiences
Dencing and whirling were also commonly used by the ancient shamans to induce ecstasy. An astral projector, S. J. Muldoon, reviewing,
on the basis of his own observations, the symptoms of astral projection,
asked, "What is dizziness?" He replied, "It is a condition of looseness
of the astral body ["double'·]. What loosens the astral bod}? Many
things; a blow on the head, abnormal functioning of vital organs; a score
of causes. Regardless of the cause, dizziness indicates that the astral body
is not bound tightly to the physical. When dizzy, we stagger because the
astral body is loose and half inclined to withdraw from the physical.
Whirling causes dizziness, since it loosens the astral body, and, in this
connection, it is interesting to note that the fakirs often resort to whirling
to accomplish astral exteriorization". Why should these activities produce
exteriorization ?
Dancing was done to the point of exhaustion. Exhaustion, whether
of mental or physical origin, serious lack of food or rest, or grave ilhlfss.
all tend to make the vehicle of vitality reach out, away from the body, to
absorb additional cosmic vitality. Secondly, use is being made of inertia:
the pbysical body is moving rapidly in a certain direction and the interwoven vehicle of vitality tends to move with it: when the physical body is
suddenly prevented from continuing its direction, the fluid vehicle of vitality tends momentarily to continue in the original direction _. there is a
slight separation, a dissociation, of the bodies. The process may he repeated until an exteriorization of a significant part of the vehicle of vitality
results. The "bridge" between the Soul Body and the physical "Xldy would
then be no longer available, and physical unconsciousness ("trance")
would supervene.

III
Fasting facilitates the experiences
The ancient shamans fasted, a practice used by many mystics. Psychics either fast or take only a light meal prior to exercising their faculty.
Muldoon is probably right in concluding that we not only obtain energy
from food but also from cosmic currents, and that the latter source is tapped chiefly when the vehicle of vitality is slightly loosened during deep
sleep. If that portion of the energy that is usually obtained from food is
denied, there is a tendency for the vehicle of vitality to reach out, to project or extrude from the physical body, in order to obtain more cosmic
vitality. Thus, if a person who possesses a loose and fluid vehicle of vitality fasts (or becomes mentally or physically exhausted by overwork, etc.)
the tendency to project is increased to a significant degree - his original
mediumistic bodily constitution is enhanced.

IV
Certain drugs that facilitate the
Experiences
(a) Descriptions by ancient shamans
"The Sacred Mushroom" (fly agaric), alcohol, and such narcotics as
tobacco juice and Indian hemp, are well known to facilitate the experiences.
Professor Eliade 6a drew attention to the fact that they were employed by
some shamans, but he also pointed out that the best shamans regarded
them as false approaches to ecstasy. On our interpretation of the facts,
like dancing to exhaustion and fasting, these drugs tend to cause the release
not only of the Soul Body (an event which readily takes place, since it is
little immersed in the body), but also a significant amount of the vehicle
of vitality (which is closely interwoven with or enmeshed in the body).
Hence, dancing to exhaustion, prolonged fasting, and the use of narcotic
drugs all facilitate the release of a "double", but such a "double" tends
to be composite.
(b) DescriptioDS by modern astral projectors

Dr. A. Puharich'" believes that astral projection will eventually be established as "a reality" on an evidential basis. In his own projection.
when exhausted." he found himself ("the real '1', which was not the one
who thought and acted") near the ceiling, looking down at his sleeping
bod); it eventually returned to his "sodden, heavy self".
Alcohol, taken in excess, is one of the drugs which may cause an involuntary projection of the "double", and that "double" would be composite in nature. Many people's "doubles", released by drugs for the relief

Certain drugs that facilitate the experiences

•

of pain, have been seen by other people. Sedative drugs seem temporarily
to reduce the vitality and therefore the hold of the body on the "double";
the latter therefore escapes. The inhalation of anaesthetics, the undue holding of the breath, the breathing fumes from a fire, drowning, etc., seem
to reduce the vitality by reducing the oxygen available for brain activity,
again causing the "double" to reach out away from the body. In The
Study and Practice of Astral Projection (Aquarian Press, 1960, and More
Astral Projections (Aquarian Press. 1964), we cited 47 cases that were caused by anaesthetics, 3 that were due to suffocation and 17 that resulted
from falls or shock. As already pointed out, we classify such cases as enforced projections, and the available details show that they differ from
natural projections - the "level" of consciousness is lower, so that the
observations made are less numerous and less precise, and the realms contacted are generally "lower" (earth and/or "Hades" rather than "Paradise") than with natural projections. We attribute these differences to
differences in the constitution of the "double"-in the enforced projections
it typically includes some of the substance of the vehicle of vitality; in the
natural instances (unless the person concerned is strongly mediumistic) it
./
does not.
We also cited86 the case of a doctor who saw the "doubles" of three
patients, released from their bodies by anaesthetics: the details that he observed- including the "silver cord"-extension between the released "doubles" and the vacated physical bodies - agree with those given by astral
projectors concerning their own released "doubles".

Professor Eliade'" drew attention to certain examples of genuine mystical experience of shamans which took the form of "spiritual ascents" to
the "sky", i.e., "Paradise". The shamans prepared for these by various
methods of meditation and concentration. For instance, an Eskimo shaman meditated on his own skeleton, thus tending to free himself (in the
"double") from his physical body; some Indian shamans combined meditation with other ecstasy-provoking techniques - they kept close to a fire
(where they inhaled carbon monoxide, carbon dixoide, benzpyrene, etc.),
or controlled, and to some extent held their breath partially - two bodily
methods of projecting the vehicle of vitality.
Meditation and concentration had a different effect: these aroused,
strengthened and organised the Soul Body, causing it to "vibrate" at so
high a rate that it could no longer remain "in gear" with the relatively
sluggish physical body, and the Soul Body was released. When the
method of meditation was combined with the imbibition of fumes from
a fire, and/or the holding of the breath, and especially if the shaman had
the mediumistic bodily constitution, l.e., a loose vehicle of vitality, there
would be a strong tendency to release a "double" that was composite in
nature - consisting of the Soul Body plus a considerable portion of the
vehicle of vitality, leaving the physical body in a death-like state.
(b) DescriptioDll by modem astral projectors

William Gerhardi's astral projection was described on p.3. He had
meditated on the subject of immortality for lome time before retiring to

28

Meditation and concentration facilitate the experience •

rest. A number of other projectors owed their experience to meditation
and concentration. Once the attention is fully withdrawn from the physical body, and therefore from the physical world (and yet kept alert, not
being allowed to lapse so that the mind becomes a total blank), it is difficult for the Soul Body to remain in the physical body. Here in the physical world, as St. Paul said, we (Souls) are in exile.
We 88 quoted Richard Wilhelm,8Ywho gave esoteric Taoist teachings
that date back to the 8th century, that were written on wooden tablets in
the 17th century and first printed, in Chinese in 1920. Such works rule out
the possibility that all accounts of out-of the-body experiences represent
cultural artifacts. Among other techniques,the disciples meditated (in order
to organise and eventually exteriorize the "Spiritual" Body, the Golden
Flower in which they enjoyed "super-conscious" experiences).
Mme. M. Bouissou," the French clairvoyant, gave this technique for
inducing an astral projection: meditate on a pea or a bean, its germination,
the formation of root, shoot, stem, leaves, flower and fruit: become "one"
with it and practice until no other thought enters the mind for a period of
about three quarters of an hour: the "double" will separate from the body.
Dr. Rudolf Steiner proposed a very similar form of meditation."
The methods of using mental images of bodily movements, etc., mentioned on p. 16, involve some mental concentration. The "communicators" of Mrs. Keeler" advised "Concentration on the images of flying,
swimming, etc,"
Mrs. Cora L. V. Tappan," an uneducated lady, transmitted the following "communication as early as 1875: "It is possible to satisfy yourself on the existence of the 'double' while in possession of your faculties,
If you intently think of a person, and at the same time figure his appearance to your imagination, so concentrating your mind from all surrounding objects as to be aware of no distracting thoughts, to a certain extent,
your spirit (ill the 'double') is in reality there".
Monatgue summers"> noted Cardano's statement, made as early as I 562,
and quoted by John Aubrey in 1696, to the effect that ecstasy is "most
commonly" due to persons being "oversolicitous or fixing their whole mind
upon doing anyone perticular thing", an activity which, of course, involves a concentration of the mind (and therefore of the "double") away from
the body. Dom Schram, in 1848, similarly included "an unusually intense
concentration of the mind or imagination" among the causes of ecstasy.
Summers 78 C also quoted Dr. Henry More, the Cambridge Platonist, as
speaking of "the emigration of the Soul from the body by ecstasis "and
St. Augustine as saying in the first century), "When the mind is wholly
concentrated on higher things, and thus entirely withdrawnfrom the bodily
senses, it is called an ecstasy". This conception is in line with certain Yoga

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

29

exercises in concentration. S1. Augustine concluded that St. Paul's phrase
(II Cor. xii, 2) "whether in the body or out of the body" probably meant
that the vivifying sensible principle or 'soul', that is, the "etheric double"
of the Theosophists, the vital body of the Rosicrucians and the vehicle of
vitality of the ancient Hindus (anima), remained in the body during ecstasy, the mind (mens), in the Soul Body only escaping, though in some
cases (doubtless those of people who possess the mediumistic bodily constitution, namely, a loose vehicle of vitality, the latter, as well as the Soul
Body is released. Thus St. Augustine's intuition reached a conclusion at
which the present writer arrived on the basis of analyses of cases only recently - in some instances part of the vehicle of vitality as well as the
Soul Body is released from the physical body and the "double" is composite; in others the Soul Body only is released and the "double" is simple.

VI
Breathing techniques that facilitate the
Experiences
(a) Descriptions by aocicDtshamans
Professor Eliade'" mentioned the "hold-breath" exercise (Pranayama)
that forms an important element in Yoga techniques: he had discussed it
in some detail in an earlier work." It dO:Jbtless acts much after the fashion
of inhalant anaesthetics, causing partial suffocation, limiting the oxygen
supply to the brain and so reducing the vitality that part of the vehicle of
vitality is released from the body.
(b) Descriptions by modem astral projectors
The ancient Chinese astral projectors mentioned by Wilhelm ee insisted
that, in order to induce projection, the breathing had to be rhythmical,
Mrs. Eileen J. Garrett" said, "I control the function of my breathing.
1 leave my body and re-enter it with great ease and with a sense of adventure and lightness".
Swedenborg ( 1688-I 772), who also had many out-of-the-body experiences, observed:" "Retaining or holding back the breath (and reducing
the vitality) is equivalent to having intercourse with the Soul, drawing it
(and) increasing the vitality) with the body".
We have referred" to important experiments that were carried out by
Dr. E. Osty with Rudi Schneider; they were highly significant as showing
that the emission of ectoplasm (from a loose vehicle of vitality) kept pace
in a remarkable fasbion with the rate of breathing,
Mrs.Keeler's "communicators"," citing techniques for the production
of astral projections, stated, "Breathing is important, as the pulse in the
brain is synchronous with it. Therefore various J'reathing exercises. For
getting out of the body, holding the breath is of value, but holding it out
has no effect".

VII
Mental and Ph4sical conditions that
Favour the experiences
(a) Descriptions by ancient shamans
Professor Eliade 79 repeatedly insisted that the ancient shamans who
experienced ecstasy, were not in the involuntary, negative, dissociated and
uncontrolled condition that characterises "possession" mediums; on the
contrary, their activities were deliberate and self-controlled; they were in a
positive and integrated condition when they made Jescents into the underworld, or "Hades", and ascents to the "sky" or "Paradise". Although he
recognised the practical universality of both the "possession" form of
mediumship*, and shamanic ecstasy, he showed that mediumship was by
no means a necessary element in shamanism - the characteristic of the
shaman was that he was "a master of ecstasy".
Under the heading "Shamanism and Psycho-pathology", Professor
Eliade'" discussed the supposed relationship of shamanism to hysteria and
nervous disorders in general: the mentally-ill patient, he pointed out, is
a "caricature" of a mystic, and his experience lacks religious content. Although a shaman may have been ill, he is "a sick man who has succeeded
in curing himself". Professor Eliade observed, "There is always a cure,
a control, an equilibrium brought about by the actual practice of shamanism. It is not to the fact that he is subject to epileptic attacks that the
Eskimo or Indonesian shaman, e.g., owes his power and prestige; it is to
the fact that he can control his epilepsy ... The shamans, for all their apparent likeness to epileptics and hysterics, show proof of a more than normal nervous constitution; they achieve a degree of concentration beyond
the capacity of the profane". Dr. K. F. Karjalainen was quoted to the
effect that, for the Yakut, the perfect shaman must be tactful and without
• The case of the Watseka Wonder - that of Lurancy Veonum [Richl'rd
Hodgson SO, and several others, leave little, if any, doubt as to tbe reality of the
"possession" form of mediumship. Such being the case, on this ground alone,
there can be little, if any. doubt as to out-of-the-body experiences.

32

Mental and physical conditionsthat favour the experiences •

pride or ill-temper: above all, in his presence, "one must feel an inner force
that does not offend, yet is conscious of its power."
Professor Eliade cited other observations of a like nature, showing
that the shaman might originally have lost his spiritual equilibrium or
might have had some physical or mental defect but, if so, as in any other
religious vocation, he has triumphed over any such defect; the latter was
only a sign that the "gods" had "chosen" or "elected" him to be their
mouthpiece - it was not the cause and origin of his shamanic abilities.
Whether shamanism is an hereditary gift or whether it develops spontaneously, it is always "a gift from the gods or spirits",
(b) Descriptions by modem astral projectors
Yarm," in France, Professor J.H.M. Whiteman, in South Africa, both
insist on the need for good mental and physical health if satisfactory, willed
astral projections are to be achieved. The former said that the psychological state must be one of earnestness, peacefulness, gentleness and patience
-prayer and meditation are essential. The psychic aspect of the self-training is represented by intense concentration of thought and the ability to
relax thoroughly thereafter.

Professor Whiteman'" said : "Separation [= astral projection] is essentiallya simplification of the physical personality, by the sloughing-otf
of some or all of the improperly harmonised monads in it... Those who
have experienced separation almost invariably state or imply that their
conscious life has thereby become purer, better harmonised, and more truly
their own".' He 83 also said, "Psychical states of separation may indeed
seem far more real than physical states [= the Soul Body experiences are
"more real" than the physical body experiences, since the Soul Body is
primary and the physical body secondary] - as if one had been for the
first time really awake". He added - and this is significant in relation to
our conception of the total bodily constitution of man that is envisaged"But neither physical nor psychical states bear any comparison, as regards
intelligible reality, and a priori value, with mystical states" [=states in
which consciousness operates through the Spiritual, Divine or Celestial
Body].
.
S. J. M uldoon ll4 also made an observation that is germane to the above
ideas: "Everything in the astral plane [that into which the projector normallyenters] seems to be governed by thought - by the mind of the projector. As a man thinks, so is he 1... As ODe is, in his mind, he becomes
in reality when he is in the astral body ... One must learn to think correctly
... Wrong thoughts create their own environment... "
(c) Descriptions by modem seers

Among the many modern seers who make the same statements as
those made by the ancient shamans and modern astral projectors, cited
above, is Dr. Rudolf Steiner.

laHIRD PART

The initial uBIackout" ill consciousness
(a) Descriptions by ancient shamans
Professor Eliade 86 referred to "the magic 'door' that opens and shuts
on an instant", described by shamans in S. E. Asia, Oceania, Australia,
N. America, etc.: a process "equivalent to an initiation". He mentioned 87 exploits of the Eskimo shamans that "to some extent, repeat the
initiatory journey with its many dangers [from "hinderers", etc.] and
especially "the passage through a 'strait gate' that remains on openly for an
instant". [These momentary experiences, we equate to the momentary
"blackout" in consciousness, or "tunnel"-effect, experienced by modern
astral projectors as the "double" is in process of quitting the physical
body-when neither the "double" nor the physical body is available as an
instrument of consciousness. In other words, it is the first event in the
first "death", or un~eiling of the SouIJ.
Later, Professor Eliade 88 said, "Reaching the bottom of the ocean
[="water" ="tbe river of death", i. e.. reaching the limits of the
"Hades" belt of the total earth, corresponding to the vehicle of vitality of
man] the shaman (ofN. and S. America) finds himself facing three great
stones in constant motion barring his road ... (This ... image ofthe'strait gate'
forbids access to the plane of 'higher' being to anyone but an 'initiate', i.e.,
one who can act like a 'spirit') [=the sbaman experienced the first "blackout" when his"double"separated from his physical body.at the first"death"
or unveiling of the Soul: since he was of the mediumistic bodily constitution, and, in any event, had used one or more of the techniques employed
tbat caused some exteriorization of the vebicle of vitality, i. e., dancing to

•

EeST ASY. The release of the Soul from the body

35

exhaustion, fasting, drugs or holding the breath-pp.22-5 : the "double" he
released was composite; it consisted not only of the "super-physical" Soul
Body but also of part of the "semi-physical" vehicle of vitality. The latter
component obliged him to contact the "semi-physical" "Hades" belt of
the total earth, a region that is dim, difficult, dangerous and dream-like,
with possible "hinderers". So far, the shaman was in an equivalent
bodily, and therefore mental condition to people of average moral and
spiritualdevelopment who have actually just passed through the first
"death"-their "doubles" also consist not only of the Soul Body but also
(the whole of) the vehicle of vitality. Accrding to numerous "communicators", the "doubles" of the "dead" remain in this-composite condition
for an average of three days. 88 During that time they sleep and dream
(since the vehicle of vitality enshrouds the Soul Body), and are protected
by discarnate "helpers". Then, when he has arrived at the limit of the
"Hades" belt, comes the event that is called by "communicators" the
second "death", i. e., the shedding, from the hitherto composite "double",
of the enshrouding vehicle of vitality. This process, like the earlier
shedding of the physical body, causes a "blackout" in consciousness, and
that for the same reason-it is comparable to the momentary break in the
transmission of power when wechange gears in a car. This second bodily
event having occurred, the recently.dead person's Soul Body has become
unveiled or unenshrouded, so that he now contacts the corresponding
region of the total earth, namely, "Paradise", with its numerous wise,
powerful and earnest "helpers". The shaman's passage at bottom, i. e.,
limit of the "ocean" ["Hades"], between the revolving stones, was thus
equivalent of the newly-dead man's passage from "Hades" into "Paradise",
as described by "communicators". All "dead" men-even those who are
delayed in "Hades", i. e., the "earthbound" or "spirits in prison" (I Peter
iii, 19, .0; iv, 6), eventually pass through this second "death", this second
unveiling of the Soul Body, and enter the "Paradise" belt of the total
earth].
According to the ancient shamans, quoted by Professor Eliade, among
mortals, on the other hand, only those who are "initiates" (who can act
like "spirits") can enter the "Paradise" region. Both living shamans and
the dead men (a) quitted their physical bodies in a "double" that was
composite (vehicle of vitality, as well as Soul Body) and (b) by shedding
the enveiling vehicle of vitality therefrom, i. e., by passing through the
second "death", both experienced rapture and ecstasy, their consciousness
expanded, they had clairvoyant, telepathic and precognitive abilities and
they entered the "Paradise" environment. On our view, the shaman could
"act like a spirit" and enjoy these delights because of his ability, at will,
to set in moiion bodily events whichfew non-shamans can deliberately set
in motion, but which nevertheless occur in the course of nature to all who
die.

The initial "Blackout" in consciousness •

In his Chapter XIII, entitled "Parallel Myths, Symbols and Rites",
Professor Eliade 90 dealt with "The 'bridge' and the 'Jifficul:passage:", He
said, "Shamans, like the dead, must cross a 'bridge' [=cross the "Hades"
belt with its "hinderers"] in their journey to the underworld". He continued, Like death, ecstasy implies a 'mutation' to which myth gives plastic
expressionby a 'perilouspassage'...The symbolism of the funerary 'bridge'
is universallydisseminated ..This symbolismis linked.on the one hand,with
the myth of a bridge, a tree, a vine.etc, [on our interpretation=the "silver
cord"-extension between the released "double" and the vacated body-see
VII, No.2] that once connected earth and heaven. andby means of which
human beings effortlesslycommunicated witb the gods; on the other hand,
it is related to the initiatory symbolism of the 'strait gate' or of a 'paradoxical passage' [on our interpretation=the "blackout"]. We have a
mythological complex whose principal constituents would appear to be
the following: (a) in il/o tempore, in the paradisal time of humanity, a
'bridge' connected earth with 'heaven' and people passed from one to
the other witbout encountering any obstacles, because there was not yet
[physical] death.
"The easy communications between earth and 'heaven' were broken
off [=(i) after the physical body had been permanently shed at the first
"death", the crossing of the "bridge". i, e., the second "death"-the
shedding from the composite immediate after-death "double" of its
content of vehicle of vitality; (in similarly, after the physical body had
been shed temporarilyby the shaman, the crossing of the "difficult bridge",
the traversing of tbe "perilous passage" or the "passing between the two
rotating millstones'<-the equivalent of the second "death", i. e., again
the shedding from the composite "double" of its content of vehicleof
vitality. In each case, the first concerning a "dead" man and the second
a "living" man, the "double" had discarded the enveiling vehicle of
vitality and the "Spirit" was "free" in the unenshrouded Soul Body.
Until that event, in such case. the person concerned necessarily contacted
the more or less dim "Hades" belt-ofthe total eartb (with its possible
"hinderers"); after that event, in each case, he automatically entered the
more or less bright "Paradise" belt of tbe total earth (with its numerous
erliable "helpers")].
"(c) This 'crossing' [=passage through "Hades"] is difficult;in other
words, it is sown with obstacles and not all Souls succeed in traversing
it; demons [= "hinderers"-it should be noted that the Greek equivalent
of "demon" had no undesirable significanceuntil the early Church debased the word in order to besmirch those who ventured to disagree with itthe "daimon" of Socrates was equivalent to the Latin "genius"]· Clnd
Similarly, the Greek"worn "heresy" merely meant "choosing" until the Church,
in order to besmirch any who disagreed with itl statements, imported undesirable
implications.
.

•

ECSTAS Y. The release of the Soul from the body

37

monsters [= thought-forms. mental images that. in this semi-dream
state. the percipient regarded as real] seeking to devour the Soul, must
be faced ... Only the 'good' [who, like the Master, (John xiv, 30), are able
to say, 'The Prince of this world approaches-he has no rights over Me I',
who are morally and spiritually immune from the attacks of .'hinderers" or
from producing undesirable mental imagesj.and especially initiates [because
(i) they are selected for their moral and spiritual worth (and possibly
their total bodily constitution, i. e., the looseness of the vehicle of vitality);
(ii) they undertake certain disciplines, including meditation and concentration and (iii) they receive special help from the powerful discarnate
"helpers" who inhabit the "Paradise" condition' that they eventually
contact] cross the 'bridge' easily ... [The 'bridge' between earth and
"Paradise", i. e., "Hades", On the other hand, is definitely fraught with
peril for any who are unduly fearful, grossly sensual or actuated by selfseeking or actuated by self seeking or evil intentions-they will attract
their like among the denizens of this dim region, and their like will be
"hinderers '0].
"Certain privileged persons nevertheless succeed in passing over it
during their lifetime, be it in ecstasy, like the shamans, or 'by force', like
certain heroes, or, finally, 'paradoxically'. through 'wisdom' or initiation.
"The important point here is that numerous rites are conceived of
as symbolically 'building' a 'bridge' or a 'ladder' [see Third Part, III ;
here=the "silver cord'<extension that forms when the "double" separates
from the body] and as accomplishing this by sheer power of the rite itself...
In the symbolism of the Brahmanic sacrifice... the cord connecting the ceremonial birches set up for the shamanic seance is called the 'bridge' and
symbolises the shaman's ascent to the heavens [=the release and ascent
of the shaman's "double" from his earthly body, and its eventual contact
with "Paradise" conditions I...From one point of view, all these initiation
rites pursue the reconstruction of a 'passage' [through"Hades" conditions]
to the beyond [="Paradise" conditions] and hence the abolition of the
break between planes that is typical of the human condition after the 'fall'
[=after the "fall" or incarnation of a "super-physical" Soul Body into
physical embodiment,involving "exile" from "the Garden of Eden" corres
"Paradise"-and, it should be noted, introducing the "Hades" belt, corresponding to the "semi-physical" component of the physical body, a
condition that is fraught with danger to cowardly or evil men. Until,
desiring earthly sensation and the separateness that it involves-a necessity
for moral and spiritual advancement-the Soul assumed a physical body
(8 form that had been developed by evolution in the animal world=, the
,. Hades" belt of the total earth and its inhabitants were unknown to,
because not contacted by, it. "Paradise" was its "home"; earth and
"Hades" represented "exile" (compare pp. 5) The "Hades" belt of

38

The initial"Blackout" in consciousness •

the earth shut out the "Paradise" realm in much the same way as our
physical atmosphere shuts out certain solar rays from us earth-dwellershence one of the benefits anticipated from moon-landings; such rays,
which affect our weather, etc., cannot satisfactorily be studied from the
surface of the earth].
"The vision of St. Paul describes a 'bridge' "narrow as a hair" [=the
"silver cord't-extension that forms when a man's "double" is released from
his body and he enters "Paradise" conditions]. The same image is
found in Arabic writers and mystics: the 'bridge' is "narrower than a
hair" and connects earth with the astral spheres and Paradise: just as in
Christian tradition, sinners cannot cross it and are cast into hell. Arabic
terminology clearly brings out the nature of the 'bridge' or the 'path' as
"difficult of access" ... The "narrow passage" or "dangerous passage" is
a common motif in both funerary and initiatory mythologies ... In New
Zealand the deceased must pass through a very narrow space between two
demons who try to capture him; if he is 'light', he gets through, but if he
is 'heavy' [weighed down by a gross vehicle of vitality] he falls and becomes the demons' ["hinderers"J prey. 'Lightness' and 'swiftness' ... is
always a symbolic formula of 'intelligence', 'wisdom', ,'transcendence',
and, in the last analysis, for initiation [=the "doubles" of "good" men
are refined, subtle and light, so that they leave the physical counterpart,
and enter Paradise more or less readily].
"The symbolism of the 'strait gate' and the 'dangerous bridge' is
bound up with the symbolism of 'the paradoxical passage' ... Candidate
shamans, or the heroes of certain myths, sometimes find themselves in
apparently desperate situations. They must go where night and day meet
[=the dim "greylands", "twilight lands", etc., I, e., into "Hades" conditions] or find a 'gate' in a 'wall" [=experience the second "blackout"
as the vehicle of vitality is shed] or go up to the 'sky' [="Paradise"]
through a passage that opens but for an instant [ditto]. pass between
constantly-moving millstones, etc. [ditto]".
In Table (A) below we give a suggested correlation between the
total bodily constitution of man, and environments he contacts and the
experiences that he undergoes. In Table (B) we interpret the experiences
described by ancient shamans and heroes in terms of these conceptions.
It should be remembered that the ancient shamans could not read or
write and had little, if any, opportunities for comparing notes concerning
a series of experiences that exhibit some variations from person to person
(e. g., according to the tightness or looseness of his vehicle of vitality),
and even with one and the same person (e. g., according to age, state of
health, conditions that affect the looseness of the vehicle of vitality, or
according to the techniques employed): it is not surprising that they did

Tbe Spiritual
Body is eternal and formless:
Spiritual forces
radiate from a "centre".
animating the Soul

"subt-econscious'
ness halfwaking.
halfdreaming,
state
THE SOUL BODY IS SHED AT THE THIRD "DEATH" (UNVEILING OF THE ETERNAL SELF)

SOUL HODY
(tbe
primary
body of
man)
Super ph}sical

3.

True "Heavens".
the formless,
timeless, spaceless
Spiritual "World"

Cosmic or
Mystical
Experiences

Telepathy
clairvoyanee etc
E. S, P.Mental
phenomena.

A tight
vehicle of
vitality
cause
tight,
lovelike
feeling

VEHICLE OF VITALITY SHED FROM THB (COMPOSITE) "DOUBLE" AT SECOND "DEATH" (UNVEILING
OF SOUL)

vehicle
of
vitality
Semimental &
Semiphysical

2.

TABLE (A)

PHYSICAL BODY SHED BY THE (COMPOSITE) DOUBLE AT FIRST DEATH (UNVEILING OF SOUL)

SPIRTUAL,
DIVINE OR
CELESTIAL
Transcendent

I.

~

s

n"

W

g

Eo

~

g,
~

t

~

!<

•
~

~

•
~

'1
.5

;;

~

~

~
Cb

:~

~
~

~

3. Crossing a "bridge" that was "narrow as a
hair", climbing a "tree", "vine". "ladder"
"thread", "ribbon" (="rainboll"), "rope"
or "cord".

2. The passing through a "door" or a "gate"
that opens only momentarily,

I. The mere passing through a "door" or
between two revolving- "millstones", and
other symbols of tightness that correspondto our "glove:' symbol.

= Passing through' the dim "Hades" belt of the total earth, a
region that not only includes "hinderers", but where it may be
difficult to distinguish fears and imaginings from realities. (See
Fourth Part, III.)

= The "silver cord'.'~extensio,,; this forms as the "double"
separates from the body-(see Third Part,IV.)

=/ndicate a "double" that is more or less tightly knitted to.
interwoven with or enmeshedin the physical body: its release
would be more or less difficult : the shaman might have to
resort to breathing fire> fumes, holding the breath. taking
drugs, dancing to. exhaustion, prolonged fasting, etc. These all
tend to loosen and release the vehicle of vitality (see below)

TABLE (B)

4. Crossing a difficult and'da"gerous "bridge",
or going through a "perilous" passage, or
meeting "desperate" situations.

= The (second momentary "blackout" in consciousness as the
vehicle of vitality separates from the composite "double", i.e.•
the second "death", leaving the Soul Body unenshrouded and
able to quit "Hades" and enter "Paradise" (see Fourth Part, I.)
r

5. (a) Passing through a "gate" in "Walt':
(b) Passing between stones in motion that
are at the bottom of the ocean" (=th"
limits of the "Hades" belt of the total
earth),

not have a clear conception of the total bodily constitution of man, and
did not correlate their experiences therewith. We hope to show, in the
next section, that our correlation is justified by tbe facts revealed by
modern astral projectors. The important question of the "silver cord"extension is reserved for a later section (Third Part, III).
(b) Descriptions by modern astral projectors

(ia)-A "door", "glove", "sack", etc.-symbols of a vehicle of vitality
that was closely interwoven with the physical body, being released. We
do not recall the use of the "door" symbol by an astral projector to
describe this condition, but "communicators" use It in describing the
permanent release of their "doubles" from their bodies. We 811 cited one
as saying that he had gone through "a door" and another as using the
word "doorway" (where, as with Dr. Puharich, etc., his "real me", i. e.,
"double", was "extracted" from his "not me", i. e., body). Among
astral projectors, Miss Yeoman 88 described the release of her "double"
as "like a tight glove being pulled from a finger". Mrs. Reece 84 said it
was "like trying to get out of a tight sack or glove". Miss Cromwell
Addison 86 said, "[ was gradually drawn as if out of 0 tight rubber
bathing-suit", Swedenborg tI, who,like Miss Addison and several others,
declared that he was aided by "helpers" to leave his body, felt "a drawing out". The Frenchman Yram 27 "had the impression of being in a
sack whose narrow opening was no more than a crack". Bain II (ibid.)
felt it "like drawing a Yale key from a lock", while Mme. BouissouII
(ibid.) felt her "double" leave "0 kind of narrow sheath".

(ibr-The converse of the above-a "glove" etc.-symbols of the re-entry
of a "double" into the body. Miss M. T. Johnson 87 said it was like
fitting herself into "a tight rubber skin". Mrs. H. D. Williams 88 "like
slipping the hand into an easy-fining glove". Frances Banks 88 quoted a
lady who described it as like "putting a hand into 0 glove". Mrs.
Boorman1OOstated that with her, it felt "like slipping into a coat". To
Mrs. D. Parkerl°1 it felt like "a bag" being pulled down over her head.
A child of fourteen cited by Susy Smith10ll compared it to litting into "a
coat". Encladus10ll "slipped back into her body like a glove": she said
that the sensation ended with the feet, "in which the 'glore' -feeling was
most distinct".
We haTe cited the "communicators" of Mrs. M. E. Keelerlo& as (like
the ancient shamans) stating the "astral body" [the vehicle of vitality]
may be so closely knit to the physical body that special means, such as
an illness, may be required to render possible their separation. They said
that "helpers" may find it necessary to "use an illness, or some other
extreme influence, to break the connection between the (astral and physical) bodies", temporarily relasing a composite "double". The particularly

42

The initial"Blackout" in consciousness

•

reliable "communicator" of P. E. Cornillier105 mentioned this matter in
connection with the permanent releases of composite "doubles". i. e., at
eath. He said that when "inferior". i. e., grossly sensual. men die.
"spirit-messengers", i, e.• those "helpers" who are often called "deliverers".
"aid and, if need be,Jorce the escape". Again106,he said that when the
"inferior" type of man "passes on". sometimes the intervention of the
spirits is necessary to wrest him away [from his bodyJ
These statements concerning those men who, because of gross sensuality (which is necessarily correlated with a gross "double". one that is
closely interwoven with the physical body) find it difficult, if possible.
temporarily to release the "double", are clearly the converse of more
frequently-made statements concerning others who. because of their high
moral and spiritual nature (which is correlated with a particularly subtle,
little-incarnated "double") quit their bodies with ease -(see Second Part,
VII,and Fourth Part. IV.).
(iia)-The (first) momentary'tblackout" in consciousnessas the "double"
separates from the body, i.e., the first "death". We gave many examples
of descriptions of this experience. Miss Blakeleylo7 described "a momentary blackout", Dr. Kelleyl08"Q momentary darkness", Miss Yeoman10&
"a second of blank unconsciousness", Mrs Gussie Dowell1l O stated that
the "blacked out", Mme. d' Bsperance-" stated. "Everything became
dark: the faintness passed away almost immediately", Miss M. T.
Johnson ll2 observed, "Everything was blotted out for a while". Miss
KaeyerU 3 reported "a moment's blackness, of consciousness:" she
further. surely significantly. observed1H that "The blackness of consciousness was just long enough for my Soul to escape from the physical",
Renell 6 C. described "a momentary clouding of consciousness". Mrs.
Gwen Cripps1l8 "0 lapse of consciousness", Dr. Funk's friendll7 said.
"For an instant, unconsciousness", an anonymous deponent 118 stated that
she was "momentarily unconscious", J. A. Symondsll8 described "a state
ofutte"blan~ness", a lady of Dallas lllo "lost consciousness", the American youth, S. J. Muldoon-", like the British musician. Sigrid Kaeyer
cited above. stated. "Just as the astral body leaves the physical, the
consciousness grows dim for an instant, then comes back again". Mr. d'
nartsa 122 "lost consciousness for a few seconds". Mrs. Tolkein 123 "lost
consciousness", Mrs. Stubbs 124 described "a time ofdarkness", etc. A. B.
"Hamer", now fifty-one years old, said 13 that he bad a projection when,
at the age of six, he was given an anaesthetic: it began with "a complete
blackout"

(iib)-the converse of the above-a momentary "blackout" as the
"double" re-enters the body. We cited many descriptions of this experience. Dr. ,Kelley126 described "darkness and oblivion", Mrs. Gussie

•

EC~T ASY. The release of the Soul from the body

43

Dowell 126 made this pertinent observation: "It seems I 'blacked-out' at
the same distance when I approachedit (the physical body) and regained
my ('lIonnal' OT 'brain') consciousness as when I left it", a lady127 stated,
"I seemed tofall asleep", Miss Brooks 128 "Iost consciousness", Frank
Hiveslllllexperienced "darkness", Miss Addison 130 "a moment of darkness", Carrington's friend 131 "a moment of blackness", M. L. Hymans 132
"lost consciousness", and "a hotel guest"l38 reported "a blank space".
Further examples include Ibbetson-'", "Everything went black", a Red
Indian Chief 135 "fell asleep", D'nartsal 22 "lost consciousness for a few
seconds", Professor J. H. M. Whiteman t3 8 reported "an impression of
blankness which lasted only a moment", the description given by Miss
Mayo t3 7 included the foUowing phrase, "finaJly, just a void unstl I entered
my body", Mrs.~Stubbs138 described "a time of darkness at each end of
the journey", M. J. Johnson'P" said, at the moment of contact (of
"double" with body) everything went void", Dr. Kirklandv'" stated,
"There was a complete 'blackout' .. The next thing I knew 1 was 'alive'
(in the physical body) again", and S. H. Kelley141 observed, "everything
went dark". P. T. Sullivan, 13 A. E. "Hamer"13 and Mrs. A. N.
Woodcock 13an used the word "blackout".
Harold Sherman 142 was given chloroform. He said, "There seemed
to be an explosion in my brain [=the "double" was being forcibly ejected
from the body] and I blacked out". He saw his discarnate brother.
When he experienced another" blackout" he heard the surgeon saying,
"He's coming to I" After he had told the surgeon an he had seen and
heard while out of his body, the surgeon observed, "Since you knew what
took place while we were working on you, and even heard our conversation when we thought you were unconscious, who am I to say that you
did not have these experiences you reported ?" Sherman 143 also described
a natural projection which had occurred to him: it terminated in "an
almost instantaneousblackout" as he re-entered his body.
These converse descriptions, by people who have never even heard
of each other, much less compared notes on their experiences, are surely
highly significant and cannot be explained on the archetype hypothesis of
no less significance is the fact that the "communicators" of Mrs. M. E.
Keeler l44told Prescott Hall (a researcher who did not believe in out of-thebody experiences, through a medium who had no interest in,muckh nowledge of such matters) what has been a matter of first-hand observation
by several astral projectors (e. g., Mrs. Gussie Dowell and Mrs. Stubbs,
cited above), namely, that, as the astral body is being released from the
physical body "there is a moment of unconsciousness-rand the same on
returning". Again, ''The going out from the body may be in full consciousness, except for the instant when the Soul changes its centre from the
physical to the astral". Still again, "At the moment of separation of the

44

The initial"Blackout" in consciousness •

two bodies.there is usually a moment of unconsciousness", These communicators" cannot be written off as mere fragments of the "sub-conscious"
mind of the medium-they knew more than any living expert on the
details of out-of-the-body experiences: this matter of a momentary
"blackout" (noted by both ancient shamans and modern astral projectors)
does not occur in a single book or article written by the experts. so far as
I am aware.

The release of the "Soul" from the bod4Exit via the solar plexus

II
(a) Descriptions by anc:ient shaman,.

There are a number of features in the shamans' descriptions that
suggest that the exit from the body was usually via the solar plexus-the
"centre". Certain of the techniques that they employed tended to
exteriorize part of the vehicle of vitality (which leaves via the solar
plexus): this applies to dancing to exhaustion. breathing fumes from
fires. holding the breath, taking narcotic drugs and fasting. The fact
that shamans usually passed through the "Hades" environment before
entering the "Paradise" condition itself indicated a "double" that, at
first. included a significant portion of the vehicle of vitality. Some
Australian medicine-meninserted "magical" objects into the navel of the
candidate for initiation (which included death followed by the resurrection).
(b) Descriptions by modem astral projectors

Whereas. as already stated, the "doubles" of most astral projectors
(those who are non-mediumistic)leave their bodies via the head (so that
the "silver cord't-extension, if seen. appears to be attached to the head),
in a number of eases (represented by people who were of mediumistic
constitution. i. e.• with a "loose" vehicleof vitality) the "doubles" leave
via the solar plexus. so that the "cord", if seen, appears to be attached to
the "centre" of the body.
Again. whereas the "doubles" that are released by most astral pro-

46

The releaseof the "sour' from the Body.....

•

jectors, those who are non-mediumistic (which we interpret as representing the Soul Body only) do not pass through two stages, the first involving
contact with "Hades" conditions and the second with "Paradise"
conditions, the "doubles" of mediumistic people and of shamans characteristically pass through those two stages: they are composite at first
and, after the shedding of the vehicle of vitality (the second "death"),
become simple, composed of Soul Body only. These astral projectors
often oboserved either that they left their bodies via the solar plexus or that
the "cord"-extension was attached to the body at that point.
We recognised the following characteristics of the "doubles" of
mediumistic people146 : (I) the released "doubles" may move physical
objects; (2) the (natural) release of these "doubles" is independent of
the moral and spiritual development of the persons concerned; (3) the
"double" released is composite at first, consisting of some of the vehicle
of vitality as well as the Soul Body; (4) its "cord"-extension is typically
attached to the solar plexus; (5) some "fog", "mist", "water" [=vehicle
of vitality] may be seen. The "dead" contacted may be "hinderers"; (6) these "doubles" typically pass through a second stage
involving the loss of the vehicle of vitality (corresponding to the second
"death"), and so become simple (Soul Body only). "Paradise" conditions
are then entered and the "cord't-extenslon is then attached to the head;
(7) the "dead" contacted may now be "helpers". Before the second
"death", the "double" is held within a few feet of the body; after the
second "death", its travel from the body is unlimited. These characteristics were found in a number of cases.
(t) Astral projectors who observed their own "cords"

Evan Powell, J. P.us, who was a "physical" medium, with a very
"loose" vehicle of vitality, stated: "I saw my own 'silver cord'. It was
very much like a"light, luminous flexible rod, about the thickness of one's
thumb and attached to the solar plexus". Alan Bain U7 reported an
unusual sensation in the region of the chest generally, and the solar
plexus in particular, as his "double" left his body. A case cited by Dr.
Schultz U 8 felt as if there were a hole in his chest. Mrs. Garrett,148 who
is mediumistic, also felt the "cord" at her "chest". Professor J. H. M.
Whitemanl 60 similarly felt "stresses"at the solar plexus. When his"double"
re-entered his body, it was with "a jolt-at the solar plexus". Mrs. Gladys
Osborn Leonardv- produced certain "physical phenomena", i. e., direct
voice. She was cited as saying that, whereas many astral projectors
declare that the "cord" unites the heads of "double" and body, "1 believe
there is also a connection of some kind with the solar plexus".
P. T. Sullivan-" observed that his "cord" joined the physical body
at the solar plexus; he was aware that he has mediumistic tendencies.

·•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

47

N. Bytheway13, out of his body, saw "sailor" [=a "helper"] who "held
a very white hand, the arm of which", he observed, "seemed to be in my
chest". Sheila Wahl, a coloured medium, whose narrative was originally
written in Africans and eventually published in English by Dr.
Laubscher.t" stated that she left her body through the "chest". Ten to
twenty times as many people (non-mediums) observed that they left the
physical body via the head and their "cords" were attached to the head.
(ii) A clairvoyant's observations of his own condition
Edgar Caycel 63 informed his readers as to the conditions under
which his psychic powers, chiefly "travelling clairvoyance", came into
operation. He lay down and instinctively put both hands to the point
midway between the eyes. A super-normal "light" appeared and he
said, "I move my hands down to the solar plexus and-they tell me-my
breathing now becomes very deep and rhythmical, from the diaphragm.
This goes on for several minutes [when] the conductor knows 1 am
ready .....
(iii) An observation of the "double" of another person in course of
permanent release

We;167 cited Mrs. Eileen J. Garrett as having watched a "cloud", i.e.,
the vehicle of vitality, emitted from "the level of the spleen" of a dying
man and another "cloud", i. e., the Soul Body, leaving his head. J. C.
Streetl" observed a dying man's "double" leave his body: it was
"moored by a slender cord to the breast of the corpse".
(iv) A "communicator's" description of his own permanent release
We;166 quoted coW. Robertson" who described his own "passing":
"I came to consciousness with my new [Soul] Body resting parallel over
myoid one, and about a yard away, immediately above it. A cord from
the solar plexus was the link that held me to myoid body ... Then 1 saw
that the cord had snapped".
(v) "Communicators' .. generalised descriptions

'·F. W. H. Myers", communicating via Geraldine Cumrnins-", stated
that the "double" is "an exact counterpart" of the body. He continued,
"The two are bound together by many litlle threads by two silver cords.
One of these [which belongs to the vehicle of vitality] makes contact with
the solar plexus; the other [which belongs to the Soul Body] with the brain.
They all may lengthen or extend during sleep or half-sleep, for they have
considerable elasticity. When a man slowly dies, these threads and the two
cords are gradually broken. Death occurs when these two principal communicating-lines with brain and solar plexus are severed". Later Myers",

48

The release of the "Soul" from the body.....

•

related the two cords to an important matter-that of senility prior to deathand showed that the condition is not nearly so distressingas appears. With
a senile person, who partly loses his memory, etc., "Myers" stated:
"The Soul-has been compelled partially to retire into the 'double' during
waking hours because the cord between the brain and its etheric counterpart [=the Soul Body] has either been frayed or has snapped. The
actual life of the physical body is still maintained through the second
cord [that of the vehicle of vitality to the solar plexus] .. so the aged,
apparently mindless man or woman is in no sense mindless. He or she
has merely withdrawn a little way from you and has no need of your pity,
for, through that withdrawal, his awareness is almost wholly confined
within his unifying body-the body of his resurrection [=the Soul Body]".
In a subsequent series of "communications, "Myers"1&7 returned to this
theme and stated that "A very old person who is described as 'senile'
might more aptly be called a 'departed spirit'. For he is already dead... "
In Swan Over a Black SeaU 8 this condition was called "a living death" :
Mrs. W. H. Salter was said to quit her body in near-death and to be met
by her excarnate parents when her "vital cord" was "half-severed". Her
~~:~ "wouldn't let her Struggleback" and thus "spared her a living

The {Initial' oblique or spiral course of
The (Composite) released ··Double"

III
Shamans often describe co!tairs" by means of which they ascend to
the "sky" [=the "Paradise" belt or "aura" of the earth] and commonly
state that they are "spiral". This preliterate description is highly interesting since it agrees with (I) the firsthand observations of certain modern
astral projectors concerning their temporarily released "doubles", (2)
"communications", received via mediums, concerning temporarily released
"doubles" and (3) certain fiTsthand observations by clairvoyants who
observed peop'e in course of transition, i e.• in course of the permanent
release of their "doubles".
(ia) First-hand observations, by astral projectors. of their temporarily
released "doubles"
Sylvan J. Muldoon 169 observed: "After approximately one foot of
separation, it [the "double"] begins to zig-zag .." Muldoonl 60 also told
how, when his "double" had been ejected from his body by an anaesthetic
(one of the c'rcums ances in which part of the vehicle of vitality is forced out
along with Soul BodyI 81' 182] it was "spinning". F.e. Sculthorpe't" said:
"A person's first projection often seems to begin with feehng a spinning
motion. A.J. Davis, the American seer, also reported this. A sensitive lady,
Mrs "Z", with whom I am acquainted, had it too. When sitting quietly
and relaxed she felt herself soaring upwards in a circling,spiralling motion.
Muldoon and Carrington 184 published an illustration of a man whose
"double" had been ejected from his body by an anaesthetic (and that
"double" would presumably include some of the vehicle of vitality) :
the caption was, "Exteriorized violently, e. g., anaesthesia, astral [body]

50

The (Initial) oblique or spiral course of the .. ..

•

ascending spirally". They alsol tli cited a case of Dr. Gibier in which the
man said, "things seemed to whirl around me" [it was, of course, his
newly-released "double" that was doing the "whirling": the "things"
were stationary]. The same observation that his "double" was "whirling"
was made by G. Buck lee. Fred Rebell,11l7 a Latvian youth who was a
sceptic, described the release of his "double" when alone in a boat at sea:
he said it rose "obliquely". G.J. Einarsson,teS an Icelander with no know'
ledge of any language but his own, was cited as having observed that his
newly-raised "double" "ascended slantingly", Mrs. D. Parkerl lle as observing "a spiral spin" and Ernest Thompson Seton l70 as observing "streaming
spirals". Harold Sherman,171given chloroform, had "a dizzy, whirling
sensation".
(ib) The reverse of the above-the re-entry into the body of temporarily
released "doubles"
We172 cited Dr. R. B. Hout as having observed that his "double" had
returned to his body "obliquely downwards", while on p. 138 "Betty"
was cited as observing that her return was "oblique".
(ii) "Communications" concerning the temporarily released "doubles" of
others
Wel78 cited Mrs. Keeler's "communicators" as Si) ing: "In leaving
the physical (the "double") usually goes out in a zig-zag or spiral movement [this, we suggest, occurs while it includes a significant amount of
the "semi-physical" vehicle of vitality, which feature is slightly affected
by gravity] but afterwards [=after the "semi-physical" component has
been shed and the "super-physical" Soul Body remains] travels in a
straight line". Again, "The astral body often leaves the physical in a
spiral path". [Fellowcraft Freemasons, whose ceremonies include relics
of the ancient Mysteries, will remember that the) ascend a "spiral
staircase" at the top of which they receive their "wages").
(iii) First-hand observations concerning the permanently released "doubles" of others
Mrs. Eileen J. Garrettl7&saw her little daughter die: "I saw, rising
above Ann's body, a.curly, shadowy grey substance [=the vehicle cf
vitality]. When 1 entered the room it was already gathering itself .. into
a spiral shape which finally disappeared". Long before this, when quite a
child, Mrs. Garrett had made the same observation at the death of birds,
etc. (which, it should be noted, also possess a vehicle of vitalityl- she
saw "a smoke-like substance rising in spiral form". When she observed
the permanent release of the "double" of a man, she reported "two small
clouds emitted from his body, one [=the vehicle of vitality] from the
level of the spleen [=solar plexus] and the other from the top of his head
[="8001 Body]". Mrs. Garrett's description-" of the permanent release
of her young son's "double" was as follows: "1 could not grieve for
them [for first her daughter and now her son] in the conventional sense
of the word, for 1 knew by now that the drama of dying led to the other
states of living. Again I had seen the nebulous personality of my son
wind itself upwards and float away from the form of his body"

The "'Silver cord" _Extension between
The released "Dcubles" and
The vacated bodl,f

v
(a) Descriptions by ancient shamans
1 he possible correlation between shamanic symbols that, we maintain,
referred to the "silver COld", i. e., a "stick" or "post", a "ladder", a
"tree", a "Vine", a "thread" (=a "bridge that was as narrow as a hair"),
a "ribbon" (=a "rainbow"), a "rope" (=a "chain") and a "cord", was
not envisaged by Professor Eliade. On one interpretation, there were three
possibilities in connexion with these symbols: (a) in some instances the
nee was to the "silver cord" that formed as the shaman's "double" (consistrefersing of some of the vehicle of vitality as well as the Soul Body) left his
body (and that was re-absorbed when he re-entered it); (b) in other cases
it referred to a very similer extrusion from the Soul Body of a "helper", in
"Paradise" conditions, towards the aspiring shaman (a feature that was
described by Mrs. Piper, as will be indicated in a forthcoming book by the
present writer entitled On the Record. The Record of Mrs. Piper of Boston); (c) in still others the symbol of a "bridge that was as narrow as a
hail" referred to the shamanis "cord", while a mere "bridge" over "water"
described the passage through the dim, cloudy, even "watery" "Hades"
belt of the earth, which corresponded to the shaman's vehicle of vitality.
Professor Eliade, as already said, drew attention to the symbol of the
"Centre of the World", a conception that is implicit in all ascents to "Paradise". Jacob!" "dreamed" of a "[adder" that was "set up on earth"
(= from the physical body of the mortal), the top of which "reached to

52

The "Silver cord'r-Bxtension between the released ... ,..

•

heaven" (= "Paradise"), and "ascending and descending" which were 'the
angels of God" (="ministrant spirits"!" from "Paradise" conditions).
He said that the "stone" on which Jacob slept was a "bethel", i.e., a sacred stone, situated at "the Centre of the World" (and, we would suggest,
by the correspondence between the Macrocosm and the microcosm, at the
"centre" of man) "for it is there that there was connection among all the
cosmic regions" [and, we would suggest, between all the various bodies of
man].
Professor Eliade continued: "Finally, we must mention another group
of myths and legends related to the theme of ascent-the "chain of arrows"
[on our interpretation, = the "silver cord"-extension]. A hero goes up by
fixing first an arrow in the celestial vault, a second in the first, and so on
until he has made up a chain between heaven and earth". This symbol
occurs in Melanesia and in N. and S. America. Since the bow is unknown
in Australia, its part in the myth is taken by a lance bearing a long strip
of cloth; with the "lance" fixed in "the celestial vault", the hero ascends
thereto by means of the trailing cloth.
As already said, Professor Eliade1?8 holds the hypothesis that, behind
the numerous myths and symbols here mentioned lies the idea of the achievement of communications between mortals on earth and "gods" who
were possible "helpers" in "Paradise" conditions: the mortals concerned
were specially selected and trained, since the "ascent" (quitting the body)
difficult, and thereafter there was the "crossing" of the dim and dangerous
"Hades" belt before entrance into bright and happy" Paradise" conditions
... In prehistoric times - before the "fall" - all mortals could ascend to
"Paradise" and receive help and instruction from the "ministering spirits" of the "Paradise" belt of the earth, and that naturally, easily and
safely, but since the "fall" conditions had changed.
Professor Eliade considers that the symbols of a "ladder", "tree 0',
"vine", "chain", "cord", etc., werethe "physical means" of the ascent to
"Paradise" and that (I) they were all connected with these "communications" and (2) they were all variants of "the World Tree, or axis mundi,
which itself implies the idea of 'the Centre of the World', the point where
earth, 'sky' (="Paradise") and 'underworld' (="Hades") meet. The
shaman achieved ecstasy, i.e., releasefrom the body, by the use of his techniques (see Second Part), and thus temporarily regained the pre-"fall"
condition; he became a "spirit" and was able to converse with the "gods"
who inhabit "Paradise".
We here indicate the remarkably wide distribution of the shamanic
symbols that we interpret as a "silver cord". They refer to (a) the evacuation, by the "double", of the physical body, with the formation of the
"silver cord"-extension, followed by contact first with "Hades" and its

•

ECSTASY, The release of the Soul from the body

53 .

possible "hinderers"and later with "Paradise" conditions and its numerous "helpers" (including some who helped the shaman to be "delivered"
from his body, and others who gave instruction, assisted with prophecies,
etc.); (b) the return of the shaman's "double" and its re-entrance into the
body, with the re-absorption of the "silver cord"-extension; (c) the "cord"
-extension formed as the "double" leaves a dying body (of ordinary mortals as well as shamans); (d) the descent of the "good" (chiefly"ministering spirits" from "Patadise") to earth in order to contact and help mor
tals - these extruded, from the Soul Body, a cord-like feature resembling
the shaman's "silver cord", as mentioned above.
A "stick" or "post"
A "ladder"

A strong confirmation that our interpretation of the symbol of a
"rope" or a "cord", as used by Australian aborigines, refers to the "silver
cord"-extension comes from the descriptions obtained by the eminent anthropologist, Dr. Ronald Rose 179 The natives explained their initiuion
ceremony to Rose as follows: "A man .. lay on his back [the position in
which the "double is found to be most readily released).. From his
mouth the boys saw a thing come forth, a live that thing ",as not a snake

54

The "Silver cord"-Extension between the released

•

or a cord-but it looked like a cord and moved like a snake, Slowly it
issued... the length of a man's finger, but not so thick [a thickness that
agrees with many definitions given by astral projectors when the "double
was near the body]. It became almost as long as his arm [i.e., under two
feet, which also agrees with the "cord -extension that either consists of or
includes much of the vehicle of vitality]. It left his mouth and crawled in
the grass, then returned to his body...

"The remaining lad said that the 'clever men [=medicine-men were
were physical mediums, with loose vehicles of vitality] lay on their backs
and that "clever repes extruded from their mouths, their navels.. Half
the aborigines interviewed maintained that they had seen a "magic cord"
under these circumstances. One described it as usually black [indicative
of low moral nature], though sometimes sandy and never thicker than a
hosschsir [co npare the "thread, above], Another said that the "cords"
looked like black cobwebs and crawled over the "clever man's face [similar comparisons with cobwebs are given concerning the initial stages of
"materialisatioos" i.e., those of Mme. d'Esperance]", Rose summed up
numerous statements he obtained from the aborigines descriptive of the
"rope" or "cord" of a medicine man--it was "very thin rather than thick",
sandy to black in hue, not more than two feet in length and seemed to be
"alive" - all features of those silver cord"-extensions that consist mainly
or entirely of substance from the vehicle of vitality,
Our interpretation is surely clinched by the fact that in many cases the
"silver cord" of those "physical" mediums who produce "material'sations"
is shown quite clearly in the photographs of the phenomena: the feature
consists of a silvery "thread", much like a cobweb, that joins the solar
plexus of the medium to the figure above.

[b] Der.criptions by modern astral projectorsof their own "cords"
We have already [p.6] observed that the "doubles" of men who were
of the non mediumistic constitution, i.e., with "tight vehicles of vitality,
usual y I:ft their physical bodies via the head: such being the case, the
"silv.r cord -extensiqn, if seen, is described as attached to the head. On
the other hand, the "doubles of mediumistic men usually left via the solar
pieltus180 and the "cord", if seen, was attached at th rt point. There are,
o" course, all gradations between men who are definitely of the mediumistic type and others who are non-mediumistic [and one and the same person may vary in this respect according to age, health, or the use of certain
techniques]. No hard and fast lines of demarcation should be expected
- we are dealing with complex human beings and not simple physical objects. Moreover, while the newly-released "double of a non mediumistic
person is simple, is attached to the head, and does not pass through a
second stage, that of a mediumistic person is composite,it may pass through
a second stage, after which the point of attachment may shift from the

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

55

solar plexus to the head. Shamans in general show considerable agreement with modern people whose constitution is of the mediumistic type.
Certain of the symbols that were used by the ancient shamans to describe their "silver cord-extension (though the fact that it was his feature
that they were describing has been overlooked) are used by modern astral
projectors: shamans used the word "thread",astral projectors described "a
thread" "a feeble thread","a long silver thread","a thread of light", etc;
shamans described "a ribbon".and we note that Professor Eliade 181 stated :
"The ribbons employed in Buryat initiations are called 'rainbows'; in gen
eral, they symbolise the shaman's journey to the 'sky'. Shamanic drums are
decorated with drawings of the rainbow represented as a bridge to the sky.
Indeed, in the Turkic languages the word for 'rainbow' also means 'bridge
.•• Furthermore, there are reasons to believe that the Turks and the Uigur
regarded the drum as a 'celestial (rainbow) over which a shaman made
his ascent". He concluded, "This idea forms part of the complex symbolism of the drum and the bridge, each of which represents a different formula for the same ecstatic experience: celestial ascent. Again, "In the
Hawaiian Islands the shaman sometimes ascended a 'rainb.>w182 ... 'Rainbow as a 'bridge' to the 'sky' also occurs in Japan and Mesopotamia't.r"
Professor Eliade 1801provided a whole section headed "Ascent by the Rainbow . The initiation of the candidate among Australian medicinernen of
the Forrest River region includes symbolic death, resurrection and ascent
to the "sky": "The master ..seating himself astride the rainbow-serpent,
begins to pull himself [="double ] by his arms, as if climbing a rope
[compare VII [I] - The use of certain bodily movements]. When near
the top, he throws the candidate into the 'sky', 'killing' him. Once they
are in the 'sky', the master inserts into the candidate's body small rainbow.serpents, i.e., fresh-water snakes, and quartz crystals, which have the same
name as the mythical rainbow-serpent. After this operation, the candidate
is brought back to earth, still on the rainbow-serpent's back. The master
again introduces magical objects into his body, this time through the navel, and awakens him by touching him with a magical stone. Professor
Eliade observed, "As to the rainbow, a considerable number of people are
known to see in it the 'bridge' connecting earth and 'sky', and especially
the bridge of the gods. This is why its appearance after a storm is always
regarded as a sign of God's appeasement. It is always by way of the rainbow that mythical heroes reach the 'sky'. Thus, e. g., in Polyne-ia the
Maori hero Tawhaki and his family.and the Hawaiian hero Aukelenu aiku,
regularly visit the upper regions b) climbing the rainbow .. to deliver the
Souls of the dead ... The same mythical function of the rainbow is found
in Indonesia, Melanesia and Japan".
It is surely strongly suggestive that a young sceptic, Fred Rebell, a
Latvian, sailing alone over the sea, on leaving his body, looked down and
described his "silver cord"-extension as "0 thin luminous ribben", P. T.

56

The "Silver cord't-Extension between the released......

•

Sullivan compared his to "a ray of golden light", C. B. Moore his to "a
long broad ribbon", Mrs. N. Matile, whose out-or-the-body experience
occurred when she was only eight years old, described hers as "a silver
greyish ribbon", Mrs. Herrick hers as "a long cord or streamer of light",
and Mrs. Piper hers to "a line of light". It is evident that the idea of "the
foot of the rainbow" is more than mere poetry,
Another common symbol used by the ancient shamans was that of" 0
rope". This also has been used by modern astral projectors to describe
their own "silver cord -extensions : and more than one or them compared
the feature to a garden hose (which however, was luminous). It was also
used by Mrs. Keeler's "communicators"who suggested the following techniques to would-be projectors: "Thc image of ... being drawn up by
means of a rope; 186 "Imagine ascending a flight of steps [=quitting the
body] ..then taking hold of a silken rope and jumping off.. ,
The ancient shamans spoke of ascending to "Paradise by means of
a "cord". This is by far the commonest comparison made by modern astral projectors, who use such terms as "a cord","a silver cord" "a lighted
cord", "a cord of light", "a luminous cord", "a cord of silvery appearance", "a white shining cord", "a cord like the umbilical cord", etc.
The word "chain" was also sometimes used by shamans:
astral projector, similarly described "0 cord Orchain",

Wirt, an

The "chain of arrows", and the "trailing cloth",are,we suggest, symbols used by these preliterate people to describe actual observations of
the "silver cord"-extension that formed as their released "doubles" left the
earth and ascended to "Paradise": the same is true of the other symbols
used.
Many astral projectors also use the word "trailing in describing their
own "silver cords". Mrs. N. Matile observed that it was "trailing after"
her, and Mrs. "Mansergh" that hers was "trailing from" her released
"double".
The reported position of the "cord", relative to the "double", is an
important feature: we pointed out 18D that the conditions under which astral projectors claimed to have observed their Own"silver cords"were highly significant. If the released"double"was rising above the vacated body,the
"cord" was reported as seen when the person concerned looked down, as
described by Bertrand,l98 Pox, 191 Brunton l93 Mrs. Boorman ,198 Mrs.
"Prothero.P' etc., Mrs. Newby196 knew that she had failed to see her
"silver cord" because she had failed to look down towards her body. If,
on the other hand the released "double" had erected and was moving
away from the vacated body, the "cord" would not be seen unless the
person concerned turned round and looked towards his body, ~ was

•

ECST AS),. The release of the Soul from the body

57

described by Willse,196 who said, "Looking back, 1saw a small cord",
by Muldoon,l9? when, it should be noted, he was only twelve years
old and had not, of course, heard of such matters. He stated, "I
managed to turn round. There was another 'me' lying quietly on
the bed. My two identical bodies were joined by means of an
elastic-like cable", by Gerhardi.P" who used this original observation
that his "silver cord" trailed behind his advancing "double" to
assure himself of the reality of his out-of. the-body experience - he asked
himself. "How do I know 1 am not dreaming this? , and he answered,
"Look for the lighted cord behind you !" He did look, did seeit, and was
satisfied. Later, Gerhardi, like many other astral projectors, wondered
whether he had not vacated his body permanently, i. e., died. He said,
"I turned round. But the silver cord, faint and thin, was still there. B.
B. Wirt 189 said, "I float out of, and away from, my fleshly form ... and further I see the silver cord Or chain connecting my Spiritual (here = Soul]
body with the earthly body". A. M. Farage,200who says the "leads the
life of a simple woman", published an article entitled "Living in Two
Worlds : in this she described her astral projections. She said, "I feel myself floating in pure 'ether' ... in the super-normal world. My body awaits
the return of my spirit [in the "double"] that gives it life and movement in
the time-dimension [=the return of the primary body], joined with it now
only by a thread [=the "silver cord't-extension] that will serve as a means
of return into the envelope of flesh I know my body shell has not the
value 1 place on it". These cases are mostly British and American -. Here
is one from Australia - Mrs. E. Herrick-" observed that her "cordi" was
':behind" her. A second is from Norway : Ingeb)rg~Ol, out of her body,
observed a "cord" (that "looked like gutta percha"): she stated, "It is
.following me".
(c) "Communications" concerning mediumistic trance

Mrs. Piper l102, in trance, said that "a material COrd... the last threadl'
... existed between her released "double" and vacated body. Returning
from trance 203, she described "the line that connectsthe Soul with the body
- a line of light ,and stated llO', " 'Rector' took a cord out of my stomach:" [solar plexus]. She also (ibid., p, 593) observed, "I thought I was
on a string... a wire, on a wire-cord - not a cord but a wire".
Mrs. "H , one of Mrs. Piper's "communicators, said l106, "There is a
'cord' similar to [the "guide's"] .and the moment the ["guide's"] cord
touches the body of the 'light' [=medium, i.e., Mrs. Piper], her spirit [in
the "double ] passes out over the cord [the similar one, i, e., Mrs. Pip-

We have cited a number of first-hand descriptions of "cords", received
independently of mediumship. "Communicators , who are obliged to use

58

The "Silver cord't-Extensionbetween the released.....

•

mediums, say the same. In America, Mrs. Keeler's "communicators'w"
stated: "As the Astral Body moves, it leaves a trail of light".
"Kate", communicating to her husband, E. B. Morgan201, told him
that she sometimes found it difficult to tell whether someone [released
"double"] whom she met in "Paradise" conditions was in physical embodiment or not. She said, "If you see a silver cord trailing behind them, you
know that they are still 'alive' ". In England, "H. J. L.", a "communicator" of J. S. M. Ward Z08 said the same, namely, that "those living on
earth [and whose "doubles were released from their bodies in deep
sleep, etc.] had trailing away behind them a thread of light". Some of
these mortals "had their eyes wide open and seemed to be hunting for
someone; a few seemed to be idly wandering through a strange landscape,
stopping every now and then to gaze at it"; others were "like people walking in their sleep".-Compare the last-cited phrase with (I) Muldoon,203
who, on the basis of his own first-hand observations, and entirely independent of mediumship, stated: "Just as there is somnanbulism, commonly called sleep-walking, of the physical being, there are also persons who
while asleep, walk about in the astral body [= "double"] .. It is the state
where the phantom is liberated from catalepsy, but remains unconscious,
and is far more common than is generally supposed". In South Africa,
F. W. Fitzsimons210 told of a medium whose "double" left her body and
went to "a large hall . A man (who was doubtless clairvoyant, seeing her
("double") exclaimed, "Good God ! and she felt "a violent pull from behind (where the "cord" was attached to the "double") and was back in
her body. In U. S. A., Mrs. Keeler's "communicators"211stated that the
"cord" of a would-be projector must be made elastic, "so as to follow the
flight" of the "double .
(e) The objectivity of the "cords"
We have suggested that the formation of the "silver cord" roughly
corresponds to what occurs when a child takes a piece of chewing-gum and
pulls it into two smaller pieces- so long as the process is not carried too
far, a strand of gum subsists between them: if the whole piece is re-associated, the strand is re-absorbed. This suggests that the "cord", like the
"double" which contributes to its substance, is objective (though it is, of
course, non-physical).
Another feature of "silver cords" that points to their being objective
in nature is that they vary in thickness according to the proximity of the
"double" to the body: when it is near the body, the "cord" is relatively
thick; when it is at a considerable distance, it is thin and thread-like - it
is often compared to a spider's thread. In this connexion, a description
given by Archdeacon Colley of the return of the substance composing a
materialised figure (drawn from the vehicle of vitality of a "physical" me-

•

EC~TASY. The release of the Soul from the body

S9

dium) to the cody of the medium, is interesting. It was cited by Dr.
Nandor Fo<:'or.212 "As the figure came close to the medium.'the gossamer
filament' [=the "silver cord't-extension] again came into view [=it
thickened and so passed from invisibility to visibility] - it seemed to
point to the heart [solar plexur..-materialisations are based on "semiphysical" substance from the vehicle of vitality]". He concluded, "1
noticed how, by means of this vapoury cord, the psychic figure was
sucked back into the body of the medium". Now, Colley has been
criticised as an unreliable observer of psychic phenomena, but his observations in this connexion agree in a quite remarkable fashion with those
of others: (a) the fact that a "cord't-extension may be so thin as to be
invisible when the "double" is at a considerable distance from the body ;
(b) the fact that it perceptibly thickens when the "double" approaches
the body; (c) the fact that, in this type of phenomenon (as with
all cases of "physical" mediumship - and, apparently, of shamans) the
"cord"-connexion is made at the solar plexus; (d) the description of the
figure as being "sucked back" into the body - are all noteworthy. With
regard to the last-mentioned observation, we cited Miss Newby218 as observing that the "double" was "drawn in with a rush",and Aridaeus 2u as
saying it was "sucked", Dr. Puharich 21li describing being "suddenly drawn
in", J. Evans 218 being "sucked back". Mrs. Elizabeth Gaythorpe wrote 13 ,
"1 know so well that sense of being 'sucked back'''.
Thirdly, "cords" also vary in thickness with different kinds of people.
gross men have gross, thick and inelastic "cords"; spiritually-minded people have "cords that are fine and highly extensible. This is one of the
reasons why it is unwise for writers on this subject to encourage indiscriminate attempts at astral projection: if the connexion between the released
"double" and the vacated body should snap, the latter must die (since the
former, it is said, obtains cosmic vitality and passes it, via the "cord", to
'the body). Mrs. Keeler's "communicators'?" stated that a would-be projector's "silver cord"-extension must be made elastic in order that conexion
wjth the body is maintained. Many people who left their bodies observed that their "cords" were elastic: Muldoon described his "an elasticlike cable", Bertrand his as "a kind of elastic string"; Turvey stated
that his "cord-extended and contracted like an elastic cord", and so on.
(It should be noted that it is the "cord"-extension of the "super physical"
Soul Body that is highly elastic; that of the "semi-physical" vehicle of
vitality has very limited elasticity: hence, whereas a "double" that
consists of Soul Body only has no limit to its possible travel, one that
consists of vehicle of vitality only (a materialisation) cannot get more than
a few feet from the body, and the "cord" of an astral projector that is
composite is also only a few feet long. (After "double" has shed its
content of vehicle of vitality. i. e., after it passes through the equivalent
of the second "death", it can move away freely, since it consists of Soul

60

The "Silver cord" -Extension between the released

•

Body only).
Fourthly, this state of things (people's descriptions of their own
"cords") ties up in an obviously significantfashion with what bas been
observed to occur at transitions [the descriptions being of other people's
"cords"]: in the latter cases, where218 the released "doubles" were
composite, they were "six feet", "two feet", "a foot or so", "about three
feet", "two to three feet", "five feet" {two cased, "two to three feet"
(two cases) from the body. These remarkably short distances are, of
course, what would be expected if the statement of "communicators",
namely, that the immediate after-death "double" includes the whole of
the vehicleof vitality as well as the Soul Body, were correct. If this is
not the case, all these highly concordant matters are quite inexplicable.
The indications are the "cord" is objective.
Fifthly, some astral projectors observed their "cords" "pulsate with
vitality" that was passing from the released "double" to the vacated body
(incidentally implying that the"double"is the primary body); this applied
to Mrs. Gwen Cripps2\9and Sylvan J. Muldoon 22 0 : the latter ob erved
"a regular pulsating action" and said, "Each breath taken in the astral
[="double") can be seen pulsing over the astral cord". Mrs. Clara
Claylon1l21 said that when her "double" left her body she saw "a silver
thread of light which was pulsating with life" The same phenomenon
was observed in the "cords" of others at deathbeds. Miss F. E. Hornby2 22
saw the "cord't-extension of a dying man: she said, "It appeared to
be vibrating as though a light were flashing up and down". J. CoIli'r 13
said, "The 'silver cord' supplies the 'trickle charge' of nourishment to
the brain". R. F. Karreman'", an Indonesian, stated that, when only
9·10 years old, his "double" left his body, which he saw from the other
side of the room. He said, "A tape originated from it and was stretching
towards me. This tape, at some spots, especially near the figure [=
"double") was pulsating, and each time when it pulsated it had a phosphorescent light". Mr. Badenhorst's case, like that of Karreman, just
cited, shows that these descriptions were genuine and not suggested by
books: Badenhorst's was written down for him in Africans and sent,
with others, to Dr. J. F. Laubscher-'". Badenhorst said, "I became
aware that a nebulous. sparkling. golden substance. which was not matter
in the physical sense, was streaming out of my body. This translucent
form... moved away from my body-it stretched, leaving a band attached
to my body... Along the cord which still attached this phantom-being of
white light to my body, there sparkled, like a million diamonds, tiny
spots of brilliance... "
Dr. R. B. Hout 211• a saw the same phenomena in cienwthnoaxotnhie
permanent release of the "double" of his aunt: he describedhe r "cord"

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

61

as "round, perhaps about an inch in diameter"; it had "a translucent,
luminous radiance" and "seemed alive with vibrant energy". He said,
"1 could see the pulsations of light stream along the course of it". Dr.
A. J. Davis22& described "a bright stream or current of vital electricity"
which, before the final dissolution, "played energetically" between a
dying body and a newly-released "double". This phenomenon, so often
observed under diverse conditions, is another indication that the "silver
cord" is objective and not imagined.
M. H. Tester 224b and his sister saw their father's "passing".
Two hours before the "end" the physical body became comatose, i. e., it
had been vacated by the Soul Body by which it had been animated
through earth-life. This is commonly the case most people die in their
"sleep". The account continues, "At' that moment, before our eyes, the
life-force [=vehicle of vitality] started to go from him. His spirit [=now
composite "double", consisting of both the Soul Body and the vehicle of
vitality] left his body and difted away connected only by the silver cord.
Gradually the cord lengthened as his spirit moved further away: it continued to pulse slowly Then the silver cord stopped pulsing.
My father was dead.

It dissolved ..

Sixthly, the "double" is often observed to return 'along the cord",
i. e., to re-absorb it as it re-associates with the body-the converse of the
fact that the "cord" formed as "double" and body separated. In England, A. M. Farage200 has already been noted as observing this. A soldier
told G. B. Crabbe 228 that, out of the body, he "came down that silver
cord and returned to the old body". In America, Mrs. Piper 227 said on
several occasions that her released "double" returned to her body via the
"cord't-extension : the following are among the phrases she used to
describe the process-col came in on a cord, a silver cord"; "I slid down
a rope"; "I slid down, I slid on if'; "I came down on 1 string" ;
"I came sliding in on that cord" ~ "I slid in on a cord"; "I came
down and down on a cord"; "See that cord I came in on ?"; "Coming down that cord, 1 got stat bed" [ .. felt a sharp repercussion as the
rapidly-vibrating "double" re-engaged with the slowly-vibrating physical
tody-an effect much like that of a severe clutch in a motor car]; '"I
\\ as drawn in-like being C:lawn in on a tube, on a cord".
Mrs. Elizabeth Gaythorpe'" said, "The returns are always undertaken
down a long, steep "road", Mrs. M. Hutchinson-", "I found a kind of
pipe-line which guided me back to my body".
In Germany, an uneducated farm-boy transmitted a "communication"
to a similar effect.228 Burton;" whose "double" had been ejected by an
anaesthetic, said he was "forced to return by way of the cord". An
English lady, Mrs. Heslop,229received a similar "communication" from

62

The "Silver cord't-Extension between the released .. ...

•

her "dead" husband- the "double" returns to the body after a temporary excursion "through" the "silver cord".
Seventhly, (and this clinches the question of the objectivity of the
"silver cords", and consequently also that of the "doubles" of which they
are extensions), both "cords" and the corresponding "doubles" in general
vary in density, and yet the various types grade imperceptibly into each
other: the densest "cords" and "doubles" are those observed in materialisation phenomena (consisting entirely of substance from the vehicle of
a "physical" medium), and these are clearly objective since they affect a
photographic plate: such "cords" and "doubles" grade into those of astral
projectors who, being strongly mediumistic, release a "double" that inclcdes much of the vehicle of vitality, and these again grade into simple
"doubles"that consist of Soul Body only. We may deduce that the"cords"
of astral projectors in general are objective extensions of objective "doubles", though, as yet, the photographic evidence pertains only to those in
connexion with materialistic phenomena. There are, of course, all gradations between the "cords" of people who are only temporarily out of
their bodies and those of people who are dying.
(f) "Cord"-exteosions of th~ newly-dead

When the (specially favoured} ancient shamans described their own
"silver cords" (as "threads", "ribbons", "rainbows", "ropes", "cords",
"chains", etc.), they were referring to temporary excursions from the body
(and the "cords" were re-absorbed when they re-entered their physical bedies). They also, u sing the same or similar terms, described the feature by
means of which the ordinary newly-dead "climbed" or ascended to
"Paradise", i e., in relation to permanent excursions from the body (and
these "cords", so far from being re-absorbed, were, as Ecclesiastes said,
"loosed"). Thus, shamans, like astral projectors, clairvoyants and "co
mmunicators" imply, if they do not explicitly assert, that there are all
gradations between temporary releases from the body, when the latter is
often death like; and the permanent release which involves the actual death
of the body. As already said, Mrs. Keeler's "communicators" stated that
if a person's "double" was released and the "cord"-extension was inelastic,
it might well snap and he would die.
(i) The obse"atioDS of an astral projector

Annie Brittain,no when out of her body, visited. a dying woman.
She saw "a deep violet aura or mist" round the dying body. Her (discarnate) helper told her that such a "mist" is to be seen (by discarnates)
"whenever a spirit is leaving the body". He added, "There is always intense activity of the vital electricity [ =in the vehicle of vitality], more especially if there is a desire to cling to earth-life, and it is this intensity of
vibration which produces the violet tone". Then Mrs.Brittain "SQW the

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

63

violet deepening round the head, and the discharge of sparks [along the 'silver cord't-extenstons between "double" and body] grew more rapid". Eventually above the body she "saw an exact replica of the old body, clothed
in light". It rose until about eight to nine inches clear of the body. Mrs.
Brittain observed, "Her [discarnate] mother drew near and touched the
etherial from above the bed. Then a most glorious awakening came... A
flash of 'light' passed between the two bodies,and the mortal body collapsed, a lifeless corpse. The vital aura had gone, and a dense grey mist
enveloped the dead body".
(ii) The observations of clairvoyants

"H. J. L. u232 described "a cord of light" (which "snapped") and
"Myers"283"transparent cords" (which' 'broke"), "Robertson'P'" observed
"a cord" (which "snapped"), "Farnese"236 "a chain" that was "no thicker than a spider's web" (which "snapped"), Mrs. Keeler 236 "an elastic
cord", Mrs. Longley "a silver cord" (which was "loosed"), and Fitzsimons 235 "a magnetic cord" (which was "severed"). "Mary C"238observed :
"The thread connected me with my body for a time".
(g) "Cords" that were extruded by tbe "gods" towards mortals
Professor Eliade237 not only quoted the shamans as describing a
"cord", "ladder", etc. as being used by the shaman to "climb" to "Paradise" temporarily during his life ar.d by ordinary men after death, as noled above, but also as being used by the "gods" to descend temporarily to
earth and commune with selected mortals. We have dealt with this in detail in a forthcoming book entitled On the Record. The Record of Mrs.
Piper of Boston.
Mrs. Piper,238 just having returned from exteriorization in trance,
stated that her chief "guide", Jmperator, had approached "with a long
stick made of 'light' [=a cord- like extrusion, towards Mrs. Piper, from his
own Soul Body]. "Rector", another "guide", told Miss "A. M. R." that
her discarnate friend was "standing here beside the etherial cord [extruded

64

The "Silver cord't-Extenston between the released .. ...

•

towards Mrs. Piper by the "guide"] waiting his tum [to communicate]".
A "communicator", "G. P.", annoyed by lmperator's taking up so much
psychic power for utterances of a religious nature (whereas he himself was
concerned with providing evidences of survival), insisted, "This is my
'light' [medium] and I am going to hold on to my own string". Mrs.
"H', communicating, described a "cord", attached to Mrs. Piper (in
trance), which had been "placed there by these 'clergymen' [=the "guides",
lmperator and Rector]. She also said: "There is a cord attached to the
body of the 'light' [of Mrs. Piper, the medium] by Rector Rector enters
over the cord, enters into the shell [i.e., the vacated body of the medium]
and beginsoperations [permitting communicators to write or sPeak through
the body, etc.]. It is a long etherial cord, similar to a stream of light,
sunlight streaming into a small round hole in a shade which has been
drawn over a window". (This description, by a "communicator" of the
"cord" of a spirit, is almost identical with that given by William Gerhardi
when describing his own "silver cord" - he said it was "like ...the strong
broad ray of dusty light at the back of a dark cinema projecting on the
screen in front").
While this book was being written, an English translation of Allan
Kardec's The Spirits Book,238first published in French in 1875, has appeared. It contains "communications" that are so similar to those more
recently received in England, America, etc., as to be highly suggestive.
The spirits said,239 "The somnambulists [persons in mesmeric trance]
see at great distances from their physical bodies. They do not see from
the point at which the body is... The Soul [in the Soul Body] is there in
reality, and it is for this reason that the physical body is deprived of sensation ... Soul-sight is not circumscribed and has no definite seat ... If they
refer their perceptions to their bodies [perispirits] the focus seems to be in
the organic centres in which the vital activity is greatest, especially in the
brain, in the epigastric region [solar plexus] or in whatever organ appears
to them to be the point at which the bond ['·silver cord"-extension] between
the spirit and the body is most tenacious".
Kardec240 was asked, "Since it is the Soul [in the perispirit or "double"l that transports itself to a distance, how is it that the somnambulist
[in mesmeric trance) feels in his physical body the sensation of the heat or
the cold of the place where his Soul is, and which is sometimes very far
away from the place where his body is?" The answer was: "His Soul
[perispirit or "double"] has not entirely quitted his body, to which it is still
attached by a link [the "silver cord"] which unites them together. It is this
link that is the conductor of sensation". An analogy was given - "When
two persons in two different cities correspond with each other by electricity. it is the electricity which constitutes the link between their thoughts".

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

65

Kardec 241 quoted, "In lethargy [=pseudo-death] , the body is not
dead, for it still accomplishes so.ne of its functions.. A spirit is united to
the body so long as it remains alive. Once the links ["silver cords"] which
keep them together are broken by the death ... of the body, the separation
is complete, and the spirit never again comes back to the body. When
ore who is apparently dead comes to life again, it is because the process
of death was not entirely consummated". The spirits U2 also said the same
as the shamans - "The sensations experienced at the moment of death
are often a source of enjoyment for the spirit, who recognises them as putting an end to the term of his exile [in the physical body and therefore on
earth]".
.
Again,243 Kardec's spirits said, "At death the bonds ["silver cords"]
which retain the Soul lin the perispirit] being broken, it disengages itself
from the body ... already partially freed, it enjoys, in anticipation, the spirit-state ["Paradise"] which it is entering. Those who knew him on earth
often come to meet him and help to free him from the bonds of matter [i.e.,
to break unduly resistant "silver cords"]:'
In a case cited by Dr. Aneila Jaffe,244 a man's brother, who had died,
appeared to him the day after the funeral "as if out of dense' fog" and
"about four feet" above him. He continued, "Suddently thereflowedfrom
his body something like veryfine mist [part of the vehicle of vitality from
the composite "double"], while at the same time a mist [part of his own
vehicle of vitality] flowed from my body. These... forms met midway between the two of us and mingled with each other. Then, united, they flowed back into my body. At the moment when the mist... had totally disappeared into my body, my brother vanished". On our interpretation,
this event corresponded with those described in connexion with Mrs.Piper:
in this event, however, a "mist" (interpreted as part of the vehicle of vitality) left the discarnate newly-dead Soul and extended towards the mortal;
in the case of Mrs. Piper the extrusion was from the Soul Body of the
"guide", an advanced "Soul" who was a "helper" in "Paradise" conditions : each was an extrusion from the "double" of a discarnate Soul, and
each, on his own "level", permitted contact between a discarnate and an
incarnate Soul.
A somewhat similar case was reported by by "A. G. U.2t6" who said:
"After being in bed only a short time, my body [="double"] seemed to
be suspended in mid-air, and yet I seemed conscious too of my body on
the bed [=dual consciousness]. I floated some time. Then a spark of
light seemed to come towards me until it resembled a huge ball of fire.. It
came very close to my eyes and then burst, revealing the face of my departed sister, and, resting on her shoulder, as if beaming upon her, was the
face of my aunt who was ill, Both were smiling ... The following morning
my aunt passed away ... As I know nothing ofthis study, I do not know

66

The "Silver cord't-Extension betweenthe released .....

•

whether the experience means anything or not".
Miss E. W. B. and Capt. W formed a death-compact, i, e., which one
should die first would try to appear to, or communicate with, the other.
(It is an observed fact that such compacts are often successful and the incidence of successes is beyond chance coincidence. The mind of the newlydead person is directed towards the still-living friend).
Some time after this compact was made, Miss E. B. W., in England.
suddenly felt "perfectly cold" and then saw a formless "mist". The latter
gradually built up into the recognizable "double" of the Captain. The
latter was in New Zealand at the time. He had not, in fact died, i.e., released his "double" permanently, but bad done so temporarily as the result of a severe fall.
On our hypothesis, the fall had ejected the man's "double" which,
as in all such forcible ejections, was composite in nature, i.e., including
not only the "super-physical" Soul Body, the primary instrument of thought and feeling, but also part of the "semi physical" vehicle of vitality or
etheric double-see The Study and Practiceof Astral Projection, Aquarian
Press, 1961, cases 14~-152, and More Astral Projections Aquarian Press,
1964, cases 368-379). Capt. W's agreement with Miss B. W. B. operated
as soon as his "double" became released temporarily just as it does in other
cases in which it became released permanently- the difference between the
two conditions is far less than is generally supposed. It instantly followed
the direction 'of his attention, determined by the solemn compact ("I must
appear to Miss E. W. B.") and, since substances that are "super" and
"semi-"physical are practically independent of physical space, was immediately thousands of miles from the physical body in which it was usually
enmeshed and with his friend. It drew part of her vehicle of vitality from
her body (so that she felt depleted of vital force): the two protrusions or
extrusions -- one f.om his "double" towards hers and the other from hers
towards his - formed a "cord", "ray", "bridge" or "ladder" which
temporarily united their Soul Bodies, their instruments of consciousness
(just as, with every living person, it normally forms a "bridge" between
the Soul Body and the physical body). Under these exceptional bodily
conditions, the lady saw her friends temporarily-released "double" (E.
Gurney, F. W. H Myers, aud F. Podmore, Phantasmsof the Living, Kegan
Paul, 1886,vol. I, p. 522)
Dr. Jaffes case of this type came from Switzerland, "A. G. U" , s from
U. S. A., Miss F.W.B.·s from England. Here is a similar one from France.
Reine, an artists' model of eighteen years and little education, observed a
discarnate Soul who was a would-be observer: he was "earthbound", i.e.,
delayed in Hades conditions, the vehicleof vitality cc ntinuing to ensbroud
the Soul Body. When she saw him at some distance from her he appeared

•

ECSTASY, The release of the Soul from the body

67

as "a luminous mist". However, he approached her (and, we suggest drew
some of her vehicle of vitality from her), when he "assumed human form".
Such protrusions grade into "rays"! of "cords", "bridges' or "ladders".
(P. E. Comillier 11Je Survwalof the Soul Kegan Paul, 1921 p.20).
It will be seen that the three conditions under which "cord'vextensions were envisaged by shamans are also known in modem times: they are
formed (1) when the "double" of a mortal (shaman, astral projector or
trance medium) quits the body temporarily: (2) when the "double" of
any person quits his body permanently, i.e.• at death; and (when discarnate
Souls put out an extrusion, or pseudopod, towardsIncarnate Souls, in order to provide a link or bridge and effect communication. The fact that
the shamans had made significant first-hand observations is obvious; the
fact that they did not specifically pass on these interpretations of their symbols (of a "bridge", a "ladder", a "stair", a "tree", a "vine",a "thread",
a "ribbon" or "rainbow", a "rope" or "chain", a "cord", etc.) is not a
matter for surprise. As Professor Eliade has observed."Forgetting original

meaningsis a commonphenomenon in the historyof religions"

v
The condition of the ph4s;cal b'Jd4

Professor Eliadeu 8 pointed out that, amODI! the Araucanians the physical body of the shaman (in marked contrast, it should be noted, to his
Soul Body) was "as if dead". On OUrinterpretation, this would indicate
that, in addition to the "superphysical" Soul Body, much of the "semiphysical" vehicleof vitality had been extruded from the physical body.
Here are some modern cases from The Study and Practice of Astral
Projection for purposes of comparison. Elizabeth Blakeley,24? (who nearly
died) observed, "This is what the world calls death"; her body was "lifeless". -Bertrand,M8 (who had suffered "the death of the snow") thought,
"There is the corpse in which I lived.. I \\ as never as alive as I am now!";
Dr. O. RoseU9 (thrown from a horse) was "picked up for 'dead''', yet he
saw his own body and the men who lifted it, and was in an indescribable
state of "peace and happiness". Dr. George Kelley's2&O doctor considered
that he had drawn his last breath: he said, "I was experiencing death and
realised that it is not a thing to fear"; Dr. A. S. Wiltse,261 thought to be
dead, described his released "double" as "the living Soul of the dead
body". In Intimations of immortality we cited Aridaeus 252 who, after a
severe fall, was given up as dead; Reine,253 the young French girl who
realised that before she could fully release her"double", her physical body
must be "almost like a corpse"; Scott,254 who said, "I speak as one who
has died and come back. 1 found death one of the easiest things in lifebut not the returning .. '" Dr. G. B. Kirkland,254who "officiallydied" and
so began to "enjoy" himself:
Many astral projectors who looked down upon the body they had
temporarily vacated described it as merely "asleep". As already said, the

•

EeSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

69

condition of the physical body probably depends on how much, if any, or
the vehicle of vitality accompanied the Soul Body to form the liberated
"double". Bertrand, Rose, Kelley, Wiltse, Aridaeus and Scott, just cited,
were practically dead: they had released a' double" that was composite.
Many shamans released a composite 'double' because they were of a mediumistic constitution; they also employed techniques that tended to release
part of the vehicle of vitality. But astral projections occur apart from mediumistic tendencies, apart from illness and apart from the use of special
techniques. In these cases the Soul Body only is released and the physical
body is merely asleep.

FOURTH PART

The second ·'Death" ( Unveiling of
The soul bodll ,
<a) DescriptioDS by aocient shamans
The shamans described an experience that was like passing through
a "gate" in a "wall" [=shedding the vehicle of vitality from a composite
"double"] - or like passing between two moving stones that were at
the bottom of the "ocean" [=passing the limit of the "Hades" belt of the
total earth - corrsponding to the vehicle of vitality of total human body],
(b) Descriptions by modern astral projectors

(1) Descriptions comparable to the shamars' "gate" in a "wall
Mrs. D. Parker26& said that her "double" left her body and "went
out of the building," She continued, "Soon I encountered a tunnel or
passage» way through dork clouds [="Hades" conditions corresponding to
the vehicle of vitalityJ at the end of which I could see light [=" Paradise"
conditions corresponding to the Soul Body], Then I saw my husband,
who had died the year before", Mrs. Gussie, Dowe1l266 gave a very similar
account. After quitting her body (which she saw below her) she "went
to a place- a 'heaven' - through a veil of mist, high above the earth".
Miss M. T. Johnson 26? first felt her "doule" move upwards; then
"everything was blotted out for a while" [=the first "blackout" as the
"double" actually separated from the body]. She observed. "These
travels were always characterised by cold 'air' and the rushing 'Spirit-ofthe-wind' [= ectoplasmic phenomena due to the extruded vehicle of vitality.
compare Hives and also Acts ii, J- 3] followed by a heightening of the
faculties"

72

The second" Death" {Unveiling of the soul body)

•

Professor J. H. M. Whiteman 280 , when twenty years of age, before
he had heard of such matters, had "a vivid sense of cold", all that up
to no" had been wrapped up in confusion [=" Hades" conditions]
instantly passed away [=the vehicle of component of the originally
compcsite "double" had been shed] and a new space burst forth
in vivi t and utter reality. with perception free and sin-pointed as never
before' [="super-norma!" consciousness in "Paradise" conditions]. He
thought, "I have never been awake before", Mme. Bouis~oU281 entered a
"tunnel' [=the "black-out" as she shed her physical body] and found
her!elf in a •'world" that is "on the fringe of our own [= the "Hades" belt
of the total earth, corresponding to the vehicle of vitality of her own total
body]. She observed, "1 could feel teeming living forces and occasionally
harmful rays [=unpleasant emanations, thoughts and feelings from
"hinderers"]. At.a certain moment this chaotic darkness [=" Hades"]gave
place to a soft natural light [="Paradise"]. This allowed me to see
clearly" I passed through walIs and doors". Mme. BouilSOU'S experiences
led her to generalise: "In a projection [by a mediumistic person] there is
a fringe which has to be crossed, the dangerousastral plane l" Hades"] with
these sinister fluids [compare W. T. Poleao9, etc.]"

J. Collier-" said, "Everything seemed to be 'all set' for a trip .. 1 was
preparing to 'take off' ... It was speed, speed, speed, the ground just
below me... visibility seemed very hazy and misty ["Hades" conditions]... I
was in full control of myself, my conscious [ness] was awake like at no
other time in my life.v.My one object was to get out of the tunnel [the
enveiling vehicle of vitality - i . e . ,pass through the second "death"]
into where I could see the landscape....•
(ii) The simple symbols of "mist", "fog", "water", etc, (the river
of death")
Mr. Collierl3 described a second experience which belongs to this
category, It was as follows: "I seemed to be swimming, [=shedding the
• Dr. William Wilson258 concluded "There appears to be absolute certainty
that the actual mind of tha deceased person is sometimes reached; the evidence is
overwhelming in its quantity., Some sort of personal survival does certainly
occur after death". He a/so269 said, "In the early days of Christianity, groups of
earnest simple devotees would meet for spiritual communion, following the
injunction, 'Where two or three are gathered together in My Name' - a hint
of the truth that communion with Him would be more facile when a small
group was the means, especially so when members were of one mind.
"The Aposties seem to have been psychically gifted; in particular, Peter.
the central figure of Pentecost, the walking on the waves and the opening of
the prison gatel>, 'The rushing mighty wind' anb the 'tongues of fire' are but
higbly developed psychic phenomena which many small groups of sensitives can
obtain in lesser degree today"; He observed: "It is not an affair of professioDal
wonder-workers, but of friends who can have no object in mystifying each other",

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

73

vehicle of vitality from a "double" that was originally composite] 1 was
getting out of my depth. 1 made an attempt to turn. At that point 1 was
back in my physical body. The visibility was very misty [="Hades"
conditions}; it [vehicle of vitality] seemed very thick about my neck.
Thinking that 1 was in water, going gradually ove" my head, made me
return -Tfelt in danger [compare Mme. Bouissou],so there, fear returned
to me". Hives282 , after leaving his body, passed through "a thick grey
mist with a mighty wind sweepingpast" (compare Miss M. T. Johnson 2li7 ) ,
Mme, d. Esperance283 first felt "a sinking sensation" [=the first
"blackout"] and found herself [... composite "double"] in "a dark and
cheerless region, surrounded by cold mist" [since her own largely-released
vehicle of vitality enshrouded her released S13ul Body]. Then there was
"a sense of motion" [representing the shedding of the vehicle of vitality,
e. g., the second "death"] followed by "increasing light, intense living
radiance".

When the "double" of Nancy Price28" was released, her (discarnate)
mother told her that she (Soul Body) was surrounded by "a web" (a
significant amount of the vehicle of vitality) - that she was a "halfway" person (a mediumistic person, one who had to pass through the
second "death" before she could enter "Paradise" conditions). .Jeffrey
H. Brown288 released a "double" which was at first five to six feet above
his body. His account continued as follows: "Very quicklyI seemed to
find myself moving through what appeared to be a light blue mist which I
apparemly mistook for water [compare Collier}. 1 recall trying to swim
through it, although 1 was surprised to find that 1 remained dry •.After
travelling some time I reached a shore, the sands of which were golden
in colour... [="Paradise" conditions]" ...
Mrs. Rebecca Springer288 was very ill. Her "double" left her body
and stood beside her bed. She said, "Someone was standing by me - it
was my husband's brother Frank, who had 'crossed the flood many years
ago...On the bed lay a white, still form, my body .. .'Come'. said Frank, 'I
want to show you the river'... stepping into the water and urging me to do
the same, I drew back. 'I fear it is cold'. He enocuraged me. I stepped
into the gently-flowing river. Soon the soft, sweet ripples played about my
throat. As I stopped Frank said. 'A little further still I' 'It will go over
my head I' I expostulated. 'Well, and what then ?' 'I cannot breathe
under water'. An amused twinkle came into his eyes, 'All right tt
1 said, 'come on " and plunged headlong into the bright water. To my
delight 1 found that 1 could not only breathe but laugh and talk, hear
and see as naturally under the water as above it ... When my head emerged
once more from the water t I realised I would need no towel - my gormems were as dry tis before the water had touched them••. I said, "What
marvellous water I What wonderful air I What has the water done lor
me? 1feel as though I [=the now unenshrouded Soul Body] could

74

The"Second "death" (Unveiling of the soul body) •

fly I' He said, 'It has washed away the last of the earthlife [=the vehicle
of vitality which belongs to the earth body and not the Soul Body] and
fitted you for the new life [in "Paradise" conditions] upon which you
have entered ... ' It should be noted that Mr. J. H. Brown Z85 · and Mrs.
Springer Z88 realised that what they saw superficially resembled water - but
it had some properties that are not possessed by physical water, and
lacked some that are possessed by it. -Mrs. Springer, like the shamans,
observed that she could not. "fly" until her composite "double" had
passed through the second "death".
The American, Sylvan J. Muldoon z87, found that, when his "double"
first left his body, everything seemed "blurred" because the room seemed
be to full of "steam or white clouds" : this "misty" condition [due to the
unveiling vehicle of vitality] cleared after about a minute. E. DurmanZ88
"dreamed" that "water" rose to his neck: it was "very pleasurable" and
"perfectly natural" : he waited "till it reached his chin"
John Lane Z89 found his composite "double" at "the bottom of a
chimney-like tunnel"; while F. C. Sculthorpe spoke of "a big chimney".
The 'double" of Aridaeus, whose account dates from A. D. 79, was
released by a severe fall. He experienced the sensation of being in "deep
water". Later (once the vehicle of vitality had been shed) he exercised
clairvoyance, spoke to deceased friends, etc. (i. e., he entered "Paradise"
conditions).
S. A. Wildman z 70 "dreamed", while more than half asleep, that he
was "on the shore of a sea or lake", the "waves" of which 'carried the
fragments of someting I was striving to capture and hold". He continued
"I had not secured it when I became more fully awake [re-entered the
body] and the thought was in my mind that it was a dream "that I had
been trying to prevent slipping away from me..... [="washed" from
the Soul Body by the vehicle of vitality]".
Tom BroH?n's Schooldays, by Thomas Hughes Z7ob , contains an obviouslyauthentic description of the second "death". Tom first described
how his physical body seemed to lie in a tomb, and he ("double") was
"caught up and borne into the light" by "some great power". He con"
tinned, "We paused on the brink of a great river, and death dwelt there
[the second "death" - the shedding of the vehicle of vitality] ; but not the
death I had met in the black tomb [the shedding of the physical body, i.e.,
the first "death..]... on the other bank of the great river I saw men and woo
men rising up pure and bright ... and they put on glory and strength ... I
to plunge into the river ... but I could not [could not completely free his
tried vehicle of vitality from his composite "double"- though ill, he was
young and vigorous] ... it wasn't only a dream - I knew it wasn't. a
dream", A dying woman Z70C stated, "They keep' bringing me back. I
want to cross the river". The eminent Chilean diplomat Miguel Serrano

•

ECSTAS\". The release of the Soul from the body

7S

(The Serpent of Paradise, Rider, 1963, p.46) described his second "death"
without realising what had occurred, He told both Dr. C. G. Jung, a
personal friend, and the Dalai Lama about his experiences but neither
was able to help him. The "vibrations" [of his vehicle of vitality, in
course of loosening from his physical body, along with his Soul Body,
thus forming a composite "double"] on this occasion were so violent
that he thought he would die: he "prepared for the 'end'. His testimony continues, "Then, suddenly, a jug appeared in the air before me
[= a symbolic representation of the process, due to the enshroudment of
the Soul Body by a significant part of the vehicle of vitality]. Instinctively
I put out my hands and poured its contents ['water'] over my (physical]
body. The fire of the 'vibrations' instantly ceased [because the vehicle of
vitality had been shed from the hitherto composite "double" and returned
to the physical body, leaving the Soul Body unenshrouded], Afterwards
I asked myself what had happened? Who had put the 'water' there? I
asked the Master but he never explained it to me". In his later book
(c. G. Jung and Hermann Hesse, Routledge &Xegan Paul, 1966. p.89)
Mr. Serrano again mentioned this experience of the second "death" and
stated that it involved leaving the "dream-like" state [that was due to a
"double" that "includedthe vehicle of vitality] and entering a state that was
"by no means dream-like" but "entirely real, indeed on a plane of reality
far higher than that of ordinary perception [corresponding to consciousness in the Soul Body].
(iii)" The simple terms "blackout" or "tunnel"

Elizabeth Blakeley271, after describing "a momentary 'blackout'"
which accompanied the first "death", observed, "Again a timeless pause"
(as she passed through the second "death"). Mrs. Gwen Gripps272
similarly had two momentary periods of unconsciousness, "misty"
[="Hades"] conditions being encountered in the first and brilliant
'light' [="Paradise"] in the second. Dorothy Peters 278, who had never
previously heard of astral projection, found that she was free from her
physical body; then she felt as if she were "at the entrance to a dark
tunnel" : this she entered and was in the Soul Body only, Miss Zoila
C. M. Stables, B, A. 27",an Australian, gave an identical account: she
said, "Another very frequent sensation (after getting free) is that of going
down a long tunnel...It is usually going down a creek with high banks, or
sometimes down inside a long pergola". "But", she insisted, "it is too
frequent a happening not to have some correspondence with reality".
Muldoon 2711 observed that, when his (composite) "double" was just out of
coincidence with his body, 'consciousne ss seems to fade out to some extent, then radiate back to normal again".
(iv) "The raoge of cord-activity" (=the distance from the body withio which the "double" is composite)

76

The "Second"death" (Unveilingof the soul body) •

We owe the phrase "Cord-activity range" to Muldoon' 78 , who observed, "The less space that lies between the two bodies [i.e.• the released
"astral body", or "double" -in this case, composite in nature] the
greater is the thickness of the astral cable [an indication that the "cord"
is an objective extension and not merely imagined] the greater its magneticpull [so that the·'.'d~uble" tends to re-enter the body]". He conti.nued, "When [the bodies are] slightly out of coincidence, the cord is the
diameter of a silver dollar [=aoout three-fifths of an inch-compare
Colley212). This is the maximum calibre of the cord itself, yet the aura surrounding it gives the impression to the eye that it is about six inches in
thickness at this point. [N. B. - Consequently one should not expect exact
estimated thicknesses in various descriptions, and regard variations with
suspicion). The diameter decreases in proportion to the increase of separation of the bodies, up to a given distance, where it is then at its minimum
diameter, which it retains from there to infinity-its calibre then being
about that of an ordinary sewing thread". He further observed, "From
immediate separation [of "double" from body] to the distance when the
astral cord assumes its minimum calibre [=within the range of cordactivity], there is always much activity present in it". [Mrs. Cripps219, Mrs.
Clayton 2S1 , Miss Hornby222 , Dr. HOUl 224, Dr A. J. Davis 226, Mr.
Badenhorsr''", J. Collier 13 R. F. Karreman", an Indonesian and M. H.
Tester 224b all observed vitality "pulsating" in the "cord-extension when
the "double" was near the body]. Muldoon found this distance to be
usually about fifteen feet-and d' Nartsa estimated the same distance, but
we have no right to expect exact and unalterable distances, since they vary
from person to pe rson, and with one and the same person according to his
state of health and, of course. age - Muldoon observed, "When I was not
feeling as well as usual, the range of resistance, or cord-activity. was
less than when I was in better physical condition ... The more health} the
subject, the more energy is stored in the condenser, or astral body, the
stronger will be the flow of energy through the astral cable --if he succeeds
in projecting at all- and the longer will be the cord-activity range. The
more ener gy that. is condensed in the astral body, the tighter will that
body be bound to the physical counterpart". Conversely, "The more
enervated the individual becomes, the less energy is stored in the condenser..the less tie it has on the physical, and the shorter will be the range
of cord- activity". He concluded, "And ii a person becomes weakened
to a very great extent, the astral cannot remain in the physical at alland moves out, sometimes permanently".
We have pointed out 277 that "the range of cord-activity" is not described by the numerous astral projectors who are not of the mediumistic
constitution. "It is evidently the range of that 'sliver cord'that forms
when .part of the vehicle of vitality is included in the 'double' . With Muldoon, before the 'double' Could travel more than about fifteen feet from
his body. it had to pass through the second 'death consist of Soul Body

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

77

only; then ithad unlimited range, i. e., its cord-extension was definitely
elastic",
The following are the indications that "doubles" are composite in
nature and within "cord-activity range" : (I) as already noted, they can
not go far from the body ; (1) they make movements that are
identical with those of their physical counterparts (a matter that has been
dealt with detail in a recently publishd book called The Mechanisms of
Astral Projection); (3) they may produce some of the "physical' phenomena of psychical research - Muldoon himself produced super-normal
"raps" and started a metronome that was in an adjacent room; (4) the
"cord"-the extension is thick and strong, holding "double" close to the
bcdy and tending to pull it back into coincidence; (5) the "cord't-exten
sion can be seen to be pulsating with vital forces; (6) catalepsy is often
present, since so much of the vehicle of vitality has left the physical
body that it can no longer be controlled by the Soul Body; (7) for the
same reason, the physical body looks "dead" or "halfdead" -- itis
"pale", "haggard", "lifeless", etc,
Evan Powell, J. P.278 found that his physical body ceased to have a
pull on his released "double", i, e., the second "death" took place, after
"about 10-12 yards": his' 'cord" was "very much like a light, luminous, flexible rod, about the thickness of one's thumb and attached to the
solar plexus", D' nartsa 279, as already said, gave the same distance as
Muldoon.

(c)

~criptioDS by

clairvoyaots (iDdependent of mediumship)

Edgar Cayce 280described how his "double" left his body in two Stages (the first doubtless corresponding to the release of the "super-physical"
Soul Body, which is but little immersed in the physical body, and the
second to part of the, "semi physical" vehicle of vitality, which is more or
less closely "interwoven" with the physical body) He said "There was
just a direct, straight and narrow line in front of me, like a shaft of white
light [= the tunnel" symbol representing the release of the Soul Body into
"Paradise" conditions]. On either side of me [Soul Body] was fog and
smoke [=the unveiling vehicle of vitality, corresponding to "Hades"
conditions], and many shadowy figures who seemed to be crying to me
for help attempting to side-track me and bring me aside from my
purpose [="hinderers" in "Hades" conditions[=I kept going straight
ahead. After a bit [=after the second "death" - the shedding of the
vehicle of vitality from the hitherto composite "double"] I passed to
where the figures were... attempting to stop me.. Finally I come to a
hill where there was a temple [="Paradise" conditions] and bright
light ... "
H. A.

and F. H. Curtiss 281 said, .,Among the Greeks the River of

78

The Second "death'.' (Unveiling of the soul body]

•

Life was symbolized by the River Styx, the river of life and immortality
which flowed through Arcadia [= "Paradise"] and emptied into the
River Acheran ... the River of Death". They observed, "The reality of this
symbology is quite plain once we remember that Acheron, the River of
Death, is the great stream of astral force ["=Hades" belt of the earth]
which surrounds mankind [the aura of the vehicle of vitality extending beyond the physical body] like the amniotic waters do the foetus, So there
is indeed a real River of Death - as there is a real River of Life - over
which the Souls of all who pass out of physical life must cross, But unless
they have had their spiritual birth while still in physical life, they cannot
cross at will but are ferried over by the mystical boatman Charon, generally in a state. of unconsciousness which lasts for a longer or shorter
period [average three days] according to their development .•
"In one aspect this River of Death is the river Jordan, over which
the Children of Israel - the chosen of the Lord - must pass to enter the
Promised Land ["Paradise"]. Physically, the Jordan is a rushing, turbulent and very muduy stream, accurately symbolizing its astral counterpart.
For the astral being the great reflector, contains all the mud, debris and
offscouring of earth, mingled with the pure clear Waters of Life from the
spiritual plane. And those who venture into its muddy, turbulent
currents without an angelic guide ..to bear them safely over [=to help
them through "Hades" and the second "death" that terminates their
sojourn in that region], or without the spiritual growth by which they
have become consciously united with the great River of Life... are apt to
be either swept away by the swirling currents or to be attacked by the
denizens of the Deep [="hinderers"] ... "
Dr. C. G. Jung 282 cited the case of a man who "dreamed" that he
saw "a sheet of calm water" [="Hades" conditions] which "became
ruffled" (after which he contacted "Paradise" conditions).
More than two hundred years ago, Swedenborg 28 8 stated: "I have
spoken with some on the third day after their decease".
A Server282 b stated that the "etheric" body [vehicle of vitality], Astral [Soul] Body and Mental [Spiritual] Body aU leave the physical body
at death, and the "double" thus formed hovers over the corpse. "Here".
he said, "it holds together fora period of about three days", Then the
vehicle of vitality is shed and disintegrates.
(d) Descriptions by "somnambulists" (in mesmeric trance)
Over a century ago, Dr. J. Haddockm said, "The patient, Emma, while
in a state of ecstasy, made. some revelations in which man is represented
as a spiritual being rising, from what she calls 'the dead shell' of the dead
material body [=the Soul Body rising from the enshrouding vehicle of
vitality - often called "a husk" or "a shell" and often described as "an
astral shell"] immediately after death, but not always alike; some

•

ECSTASY, The release of the soul from the body

79

were a longer, otbers a shorter time. During this time they were like a
person asleep and in a state [=the "Hades" state] between this [earth]
world and the next r="Paradise"].
Anna Maria ROOS285 generalisedthe descriptions given by numerous
people after their return from mesmerictrance: they described, first a
brief period or "darkness" [=the "blackout" in consciousnessas the "double" separated from the body], then "a roaring river that must be crossed" [="Hades"], the "element" or "water", then "a brilliant light"
encircled the Soul - the "element" of "fire" [=".Paradise"] when they
floated in the "air", leaving the earth beneath their feet.
(e) DescriptioDS by initiates into the Mysteries

Apuleius was initiated into the Mysteriesof Isis, the ancient Egyptian
deity, He said that he had stepped over the threshold of death and was
conducted (by "helpers") through the "elements". He entered the presence of the "gods" of the underworld [=of the "earthbound" spirits who
were delayed in "Hades" conditions by grossness, etc" since they had
not yet passed through the second "death"] and the "gods" of the upper
world [=of the free spirits who had shed the vehicleof vitality from the
composite after-death "double" and were in "Paradise" conditions],
(0 Descriptions by a medium

As already said, on one occasion288 after Mrs. Piper's (composite)
"double" was released from her physical body in mediumistic trance,
she stated that she passed through "a delicate blue drapery" [=shed the
vehicleof vitality] and entered "Paradise" conditions. On another occasion, her "guide" "lifted a very dark, transparent 'veil'" with the same
result - the Soul Body was no longer enshrouded by the vehicle of
vitality(g) TibetaDS descriptions of the act of dying

Dr. W. Y. Evans-WentZ28? summarized ancient verbally-transmitted
teachings concerning transition which agree in all essentials with the
statements of ancient shamans, modern astral projectors, clairvoyants.
"somnambulists", initiates into the Mysteries, mediums, etc., that is, all
who claimed to have left. their dodies temporarily. These ancient
teachings were probably first written down in the eighth century. Accord,
ing to them, man possesses a "Bardo Body" [=vehicle otvitalityJ
which must be shed soon after, but is best shed at the same time as, the
physical body. I'he priest tries to bring about this early second "death"
by various means, so that the dying, man' soon enters into "the Clear
Light of Reality [= "Paradise"] and avoids the hallucinations or "thought
forms" ofthe "grey, twilight" "Bardo" ["Hades" region, correspondingto
the Bardo Body]. Evans-Wentz stated: "It is commonly held that the

80

The Second "death" (Unveiling of the soul body)

•

process [of separation of the Bardo Body from the Soul Body, i. e., of the
second "death"] takes from three and a half to four days, unless assisted
by a priest.;.' This tallies in a remarkable fashion with numerous mod,
ern "communications" received from (and via) people who have never
heard of these preliterate teachings (see below). The Book says : "When
thou were recovered from the swoon [="blackout"] of death, thy Knower [Soul] must have risen up in its primordial condition and a radiant
[=Soul] Body resembling the former body [=the "double" of the physical body] must have sprung forth ... It [Soul Body] is called the Desire
Body. The Bardo Body [vehicle of vitality] hath ... all sense-faculties...
Thy present Body, being only a Desire Body, is not a body of gross
[physical] matter ... Thou art actually endowed with the power of miraculous motion .. To those who are weeping [thou shalt say] 'Here I am I
Weep not \' But they will not hear thee... "
Dr. C. G. Jung 287b considered: "Every serious-minded reader must
ask himself whether these wise old lamas might not after all bave... twitched the veil from tbe greatest of life's secrets". On the other hand, Drs.
T. Leary, R. Metzner and R. Aipente287C while admitting the similarity of
the experiences that were described so many centuries ago by the Tibetan
lamas to those described today by people who take LSD), regard such
accounts as no more than allegories.
(h) Descriptions by the "dead" -

"communicatioos"

(i) The second "death" usually occurs 3-4 days after physical death

Many "communicators" say that, immediately, after physical deatb,
they spent some time sleeping and dreaming in "Hades", and that the
condition terminated with the shedding of the vehicle of vitality, i. e., the
second' death"; the "communicators" of Jane Sherwood288• Drayton
ThomaS288, and Allan Kardec280said "three or four days' ; those of Wickland 28! , "A. L. E. H."28s Dr. Wood.282 Saunlan l89 Lady Drummond
Hay28s, Mme. d'Esperance,2" Harry Edwards.187 and Usporne Moore,288
,'tbree days"; those of Spencerl82 and Mrs. Piper.2811 "two or three days".
The "communicator of Mont gomery Smith 288said "a short time ',
"Peter", an especiallyinteresting "communicator" of Harry Edwards;
mentioned "two or three days". Two "communicators" of Mary E.
Monteith ll88 said "two days". T. C. Lethbridge 288 observed, "According
to parapsychologists, the Soul of a person lies more or less asleep until it
has separated from its aetheric husk" (i. e. until it has passed through the
second "death").
The "communicator" of A. B,300 spoke of "four days". "Vettelline",
the Italian "communicator", of, "the French artist, P. E. Cornillier8Ol,
said, "At the death of the body, and after a lapse of time [in "Hades"
conditions1 that portion of the fluidic body [= composite after-death

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

81

"double"] which is organic in origin [=tbe vehicle of vitality] abandons
the discarr ated Spirit [in the Soul Body] and returns to re-form new
combinations on the terrestrial plane,leaving the more subtle and etherial
element [the Soul Body] to form the only envelope the, Spirit needs
in the Astral [="Para<!ise"]".
Two facts of psychical research that tend to corroborate these statements, were mentioned in The Supreme Adventure; first SOl, discarnates
often communicate on the third day after their death and sccondly803,
apparitions of the newly-dead most commonly occur within the three-day
period. i, e., while the "double" includes the "semi-physical" vehicle
of vitality.
The following is a description of his second "death" by "Lancelot3M
a supposed communicator who had died at the age of eight : he began
by saying, , I am able to see more than I did before" and, "I thought I
would always be like this ... but I [in the composite "double"] sort of cast
a skin [="husk", "veil" or vehicle of vitality] like a butterfly coming
out of its chrysalis... l felt a crack in me and it all came ever so clear,
like a chrysalis breaking open, I came out of my shell all beautiful like
a butterfly ... 1 am an angel now. Angels are people who have changed
and got beautiful like I did ... We come out of our earth-likenesses
and get beautiful, and then we are angels". "Lancelot"806 prefaced
another significant observation concerning his second "death" by saying,
"I must tell you another thing whicb is very curious. I don't know how
to put it into words" (It was to the effect that, with the shedding of the
vehicle of vitality, his "double" - now consisting of Soul Body onlyhad become luminous.) He said, "I light dark places now when I go
where it is dark ... 1seem to have a light in me which I didn't know I had
before [which was effectivelyquenched by the vehicle of vitality before]".
Corresponding with this increase in the luminosity of his "double" was
an increase in the range and depth of the consciousness it permitted:
he told his mother that, besides being able to see "much more than
before", he now had "a power of coming ever so much nearer than
before [since one of the "veils", namely, the vehicle of vitality, had
gone].' He continued, I can reach your mind on the inside when I
go come", and urged, "Do tell Dad about my getting out of my shell"A "communication" was received by Mrs. Keelel108 to the effect that
between the physical body of man (the microcosm) and the Astral (Soul)
Body is the "atmosphere" or "aura" of the physical body, then an interspace, then an astral atmosphere. The structure of the earth [the
Macrocosm] corresponds- it has "a general atmosphere" with an inteispace
"which gave rise to the idea of a river ofdeath". Regarding this statement we observed, "The, river of death' corresponds to the 'Hades' of the
Greeks (and Romans), the •Amenta' of the ancient Egyptians, the 'Sheol'

8%

The Second" Death" (Unveiling of the soul body)

•

of the Jewes, the 'Kama Loka' of the ancient Hindus (and following
them of the Theosophists), the 'Bardo' of the ancient Tibetans, 'Limbo' of
the Scholastic theologians, 'the lower Borderland', 'Plane of Illusion', 'the
Greylands', etc., of various 'communicators' ".
A supposed deceased general whose "communications" were
published by Anne Manning Robbins!", said, "The 'passing-out' is
really beautiful ; just after, once you get beyond the border - a misty,
cloudy way [="Hades"] it is perfectly beautiful [= "Paradise"], "Samuel
Wilberforce" 30!l. communicating, said. "Already .. I have passed through
the first sphere [= "Hades"] where are gathered those who are bound
to earth by the affections and are unable to rise [into "Paradise"] as yet
[i, e., those who are "earthbound" since they have not yet passed through
the second "death '].
(ii) The "mist' or "river of death"

The "communicator" of Major W. T. Pole 308 spoke of. ,. the mists
wbi ch hang over the great River [= "Hades"] separating your world
[=earth] from ours" [="Paradise"]. Hepointed out that "allS6iJfs
must pass through these 'mi sts' on leaving their physical form for the
last time. In these 'between' or 'half-way' regions are unpleasant conditions that have been created by discordant human thinking" [compare
Bouissou 28. etc.]
"A. L. E. H. "308b was told: "For a short time the Soul (in the Soul
Body], after death, remains in a veil [the enshrouding vehicle of vitality):
it corresponds to the chrysalis. The Soul eventually breaks through it
[at the second "death"]. like a butterfly.. Certain immature Souls remain
in the' veil after death [and ate .,earthbound") - all their yearnings are
for earth".
"Scott" told Jane Sherwood 288 • "We might with justice speak of a
first and second death. because not only the physical body had to be shed
but the next body [the vehicle of ,itaIity] also. The second is very near
the physical in substance [is "semi-physical"]. It is very closely knit to
[incarnated in or interwoven with] the physical to wnich gives the power
of-sensory experience [since it bridges the physical body and Soul Body].
It is the etheric or life body and, with the Astral [Soul] and Ego [Spiritual]
Bodies, it leaves the physical at death. But this etheric form is too closely related to the physical to allow the higher being [in the Soul and
Spiritual Bodies] to pass clearly into its proper sphere ["Paradise"]
so the etheric body also has to be shed, and' this is the second death .. .Jt
is a transition period".
"Pratt" told Dr. Raynor C. Johnson 308C, "During his life on earth
the essence of a man's mind travels at a different key and scale from the

•

Tile "Secod " Deat"" (Unveiling of the soul body)

83

physical, But the chasm has a bridge. Your [incarnate] directive mind
directs the physical body by means of a quasi-physical substance [the
vehicle of vitality] .. Now, there is a replica of the human body in this
quasi-physical substance which has been called the 'double' or body for
sleep... The gap of sleep enables the mind to re-charge the physical
nervous system and brain with nervous energy ... There is, of course, a
period of adjustment, a breaking-away from [a shedding of] the quasiphysical body by the total of man's mind and memories, during that
period in "Hades" [the second "death"... ]"
Robert James Lees809d received the following communication: "what
a transforming miracle was wrought during that momentary immersion
in the mists [="Hades" conditions] ... It washed all the tawdry subterfuges of the flesh away, broke the chrysalis of the Soul, letting the true
man [in his Soul Body] come forth",
Ivan Cooke 3 ose cited "Doyle" as communicating: "Some pass,
weary in spirit, to a condition of dreaminess [=" Hades"] where they live
for long periods, Others speedily traverse the lower spheres, shed that
dense ·body [vehicleafvitality] which is theirs on quitting the still denser
physical body, and enter the heaven-world [here ="Paradise"]."
Franchezz0 809f was told : "The passing from the body from a lower
sphere into that of a higher one is often, though DOt invariably, accomplished during a deep sleep which closely resembles the death-sleep of
the spirit on leaving the earthly body [=The second "death", like the first
often causes a "blackout"] ... Upon my retum from one of my visits to
the earth, [felt overpowered by a strange drowsiness .. In this state of
unconsciousness my Soul passed from the disfigured .astral body [=vehicle of vitality] and came forth like a new-born child; clothed in a brighter,
purer spiritual envelope ... Thus did I pass through my second death".
(Iii) "The range of cord-actirity"

uFarnese"810, a "communicator" who had recently died (and whose
"double" was still composite) observed that he "could not move more
than a few yards" from his body : eventually the "cord" snapped, and
be was free.

II
The reverse of the second "Death"
(Re-Enveil;ng of the soul bodl,f before
Re_Enter;ng the phl,fsicol bodl,fJ
<a) Descriptions by andent sbamaDS

Professor Bliade 8U stated that shamans of Central and North Aisa
returned from "Paradise" to (their own bodies and) earth by "a river".
(b) Descripdons by astral projecton

Frank Hives812 said; "The journey back to my body is the reverse of
what it was when coming... tbrough the 'mist', the rushing wind and
drifting wraiths [= discarded vehicles of vitality, "astral shells", as described by Mme, d' Esperance, etc.], followed by darkness [="blackout"
while actually re-entering the physical body]," Mrs: Gwen Cripps818
described her returns thus; I always found that as I was trying to unite
with my physical body, at a cerrain stage of the process, I became aware
of my bedroom, It was always deeply misty. Penetrating the 'mist',
however, were cloud-like white and red lights which somehow guided me
back to my body. At the impact of joining the physical body there is a
feeling of being jerked [= a repercussion because the rapidly-vibrating
"double" re-engages with the slowly-vibrating physical body, much as
with a severe clutch in a motor car]".

The reverse of the second "Death" •.....

•

John Lane said, "When I am about to wake up [="double" to
re-enter body], I am in a passage or corridor [compare the "tunnel" symbol - a slightly extended "blackout"]. I call it the pressurizing-chamber. There is a 'door' to my left side and a :door' to my right. I describe
them as 'doors', but, they are really the opening and closing of my awareness of experience, of my lives, one here and one 'there' ... I am being
pulled. impelled to go through the door on my right [into physical embodiment]' I do not want to enter through the 'door' to my right. Mentally
J resist and the terror begins... To escape, I must let go my desire to my
life behind the left 'door' [in the Soul Body and "Paradise" conditionshe was in between the two] and submit to the pull which brings me back
to this present physical life".
Dr. Alice Gilbert 816 said. "To come back ... is like crossing a dark
river - there may be confusion". Mrs. Gladys Osborn Leonard818 mentioned as one of the ways in which discarnate Souls can "come back" to
mortals, "a kind of halfway or intermediary place ..exactly halfway between the earth and the etheric [= "Paradise"] world. It is a half-world.
In it we seem to be only half-awake and 'they' ... have themselves entered
into the sleep-state in order to meet us again".
William Dudley Pelley (American Magazine. 1929) released his Soul
Body, but it was unclothed. Certain "friends" i,e,. discarnate helpers
told him to bathe in the "water" of a "pool" he did so and his
"double" became clothed. Pelley said. "The "water" did something to
me ; what, I do not know". The "water" was. of course, part of his own
vehicle of vitality which wrapped round his hitherto simple Soul Body.
i. e., in order to be clothed, his "double" had to pass through the
reverse of the second "death".
(e) Descriptiou by "eommonicators"

Many "communicators" from "Paradise" conditions say that, in
order to contact mortals. they may have to partially re-enveil their Soul
Bodies with "semi-physical" substance from the body of a mediumistic
person (i, e., undergo the reverseof the second "death", and that by proxy)
with significant effects, We cited a number of such statements in The
Supreme Adventure817, Jane Sherwood was told, "Coming back is difficult ... One has to lower one's vibrations - something like going into a
trance or being drugged and finding oneself in the misty, half alive
[="Hades"] state"; Mss. Leonard
was told,
"Some times
who are not ordinarily in touch with the earth conditions find themselves
overcome by a sleepy, dreamy condition ."; "A, L. E. H." was informed, "We are in a drowsy state" ; Mrs. G. Vivian. "When we plunge
nto your atmosphere we feel stifled at first and can't think" ! "Wilberforce", "I am, as it were, but semi-conscious while communicatir.g

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ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

86

thus - it is' one of the reasons for fragmuntarycornmunic uions" ; Moore
"In all these matters my memory is perfectly clear when [ stand free and
unhampered [= with the Soul Body unenshrouded by substance from a
medium's vehicle of vitality] in the spiritual atmosphere [of "Paradise'I.]
but somehow when [ return into earth's atmosphere, so many things become hazy and incomplete" ; Hyslop. "You [mortals] to lis are more as
we understand sleep and. in order for us to get into' communication with
you, we have to enter into your sphere, as one like yourself, asleepthat is why we make mistakes" , Geraldine Cummins, "When we desire
to communicate through some sensitive we enter a dream (or subjective)
state. We ... slow down our processes of thought.i.I may compare the
experience with a passing from active life (in the unenshrouded Soul' Body
and in "Paradise" conditions] into a still. sleepy world. ["Hades" conditions. since the Soul Body became enshrouded]". etc,
.
The supposed discarnate husband of "M. L. S.318 said, I dull my
brightness a little in order to draw close to you" ... The "communicator"
of Marjorie Livingston 81' made a quite explicit statement: "It is impossible for us [who art in the "super-physical Soul Body] whose vibrations
are of the ["Paradise"] spheres, to make contact direct and unconditioned with a Soul still clothed in a physical body:.. In order to manifest,
we are constrained to gather some material from the aura [ = from the"semiphysical vitality] of the medium by which ["bridge" or "link"] we muy
reach his brain, Now, to us, this material is dense [compare Allan Kardec's
"communicators"] ... lt is sufficiently physical to be difficult to manipulate
and. once we are muffled within lis clouds, we become restricted both in
mind and body .. .Our mind is not changed - the change is in the freedom
of its functioning ... Much of which I am normally aware is in distinct
to my vision, I am troubled by the miasmas of earth... "
The "communicator" of the Rev. William Stainton Moses 820 told
him: "The return to earth is a great trial to me. I might compare it to
the descent from a pure, sunny atmosphere into a valley where the fog
lingers, The old habits of thought awaken and I seem to breathe a grosser air". The "father" of the Rev. Drayton Thomas'"! said, "It is a
slowing. down to somethirg, I am not at my best even when COnditions
are at their best. It is a question of vibration and tuning-in .. It has a
slightly muffJing, even a deadening effect on roy me mory and faculties. I
do not see, remember and feel with the same lucidity as [ do when not Communicating. 1 am tuning-down too much when I am in the vicinity
of the 'power' - the semiphysical emanation from the medium". It is
surely significant that Thoma's "father"821 described his condition when
communicating, as "the undersea" [="Hades"] condition.
"Stead"'128, stated; "When we communicate with you we have, in a
sense, to form a body; a body that will compress the Soul again. into

ft7

The Reverse of the Second ., Death" ... ...

•

the dimensions it had before it cast off the body". He also 82.( spoke of
"moulding a body or cloak out of the earth atmosphere" and still later 3:!6
said, "The communicator... folds himself into the ectoplasm [from the
vehicle of vitality of the medium] as you would put on a garment".
Similarly, Horace Leaf's "control" said 828 that, in order to communicate,
he "had to 'make a body of finer earthly material' which he entered when
he contacted me". "Joyce", the supposed discarnate daughter of Mrs.
G. Vivian8~7, stated: "The medium seemed to give me a body I knew
that the medium could give me power to talk and that you would
hear me",
The above-mentioned considerations provide an obvious answer to
such objections as that made by Nora Countess of Wyndenbruck 828 "We
can receive most convincing messages from departed ones that bear the
unmistakeable imprint of their personality ... but all they seem to say bears the stamp of their own earth-consciousness... of personality, this in its
most limited sense", lheCountess thought that the fact they fail to exhi
bit an "enlargement of consciousness" while in actual process of communicating, i, e., while their Soul Bodies, having suffered a reversal of the
se« nd "death", are enshrouded by substance from the medium's vehicle
Of vitality, had some significance, But, under all the circumstances, the
effect \\ as to be expected.
In The Supreme AdventureU 9 we pointed out that the above-mentioned explanation of some of the difficulties of communication, received
from numerous supposed discarnate Souls, correspond with the deductions
made by numerous psychical researchers, namely, Dr. Richard Hodgson,
Professor James Hyslop, Dr. Hereward Carrington. G. N. M, Tyrrell and
Dr. Raynor C. Johnson, Those who suppose that "communicators"
merely represent fragments of the sub-conscious minds of the (usually
unlettered) mediums concerned, are invited to advance a hypothesis that
will adequately explain how so many "communicators" made the statement and how they forestalled the corresponding deduction of the psychical researchers.
(d) DescrlptioDS by a medium
On various occasions Mrs. Piper,330returning 10 her body after exreriorization in mediumistic trance, described the reverse of the second
, death", i. e., the reassociation of her Soul Body with her vehicle of vitality (and the reconstitution of a composite "double" before re-entering her
physical body). She said it was as though the "guides" were "pouring ..
something [ =vehicle of vitality] over" her Soul Body, as though "something 'misty' shut down right over it"; as though "a little white 'mist' "
[her own vehicle of vitality] gathered over the discarnate Souls lin "Paradisc" conditions) with whom she had been conversi..g, as lhodgh "a sil~

•

BeSTASY, The release of the Soul from the body

88

robe swirled over" her [Soul Body]. She also "heard two 'snaps'" [corresponding to "blackouts", the first as the Soul Body re-engaged with the
vehicle of vitality - the reverse of the second "death" - and the second
when the now composite "double' re-engaged wilh the physical bodythe reverse of the first "death"] ... Mrs. Piper, returning from trance, said
"My speech isn't good - they ["guides", "helpers"] haven't taken 'the
bonnet' off me yet". Mrs. Sidgwick,331 commenting on this statement,
said, "The 'bonnet' being something often mentioned when they send her
back to her body'. She supposed it to be merely dream-stuff; we hold
that it was Mrs. Piper's objective, "semi-physical" vehicle of vitality (see
the present writer's forthcoming book entitled On the Record. The Record
of Mrs. Piper of Boston).

III
The Expansion of Consciousness
(8) Descriptions by aocient shamans

(0 The recovery of the TrueSelf
Professor Eliade33 2 said, coThe Eskimo shaman feels the need of these
ecstatic journeys because it is above all during trance that he becomestruly
himself; the mystical experience is necessary to him as a constituent of his
true personality".
(ii) The traDscendence of "the opposites"

Professor Eliade333 agreed with Coomaraswamy that the symbol of a
"strait gate" which opens and closes momentarily expresses the need which
the shamanfeels to transcend'the opposites'- to escape from the polarity
of ordinary daily life in the physical body and physical world, and so to
attain the ultimate reality that is 'behind' or 'beyond' them".
(iii) The "Inner Light"

Professor Eliade334 pointed out that the conception of "the Inner
Light", an idea of the first importance of the Indian and Christian theologies, was already documented in Eskimo shamanism.
(b) Descriptions by modem astral projectors, etc.
(I) The recoveryof the lrue Self

An enlargement of consciousness was commonly reported by people
who had left the physical body temporarily under various conditions.
"Scott", who almost died, observed that his consciousness "expanded beyond the limits of the brain" and he was clairvoyant. Mrs. "Willett",

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ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

90

entering trance, exclaimed, "I want to be enlarged-it's so heavenly to be
out of myself, when I'm everything and everything is me". [Mrs. Roberts,
an astral projector, said,"It was as if my consciousness had expanded .. ".
Miss M. T. Johnson's consciousness was "clearer th.m ever it had been";
she experienced "a heightening of the faculties". Countess Nora Wydenbruck stated: "My mind expanded ... time ceased to exist".
(ii) The traoscendeoce of "the opposites"
William James 336 cited the experience of J. A. Symonds: he described
"a progressive obliteration of space, time, sensation, and the multitudinous
factors of.. or self", while "the sense of an underlying or essential consciousness acquired intensity". He said, "At last nothing remained but a
pure, absolute, abstract Self".
James 338 himself made the following observations on the effects of
nitrous oxide: "One conclusion was forced upon my mind at that time,
and my impression of its truth has ever since remained unshaken. It is
that our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness, as we call
it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from
it by the flimsiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness
entirely different. We may go through life without suspecting their existence; but apply the requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are there in
all their completeness, definite types of mentality which probably somewhere have their field of application and adaptation. No account of the
universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded ... The keynote of it is invariably a reconciliation. It is as if the opposites of the world, whose contradictoriness and
conflict make all our difficulties and troubles, were melted away ... "
(iii) The

"InnerLight"

Many astral projectors, clairvoyants -- yes, and "communicators"!
- as well, of course, .as mystics, have held the important conception of
the "Inner Light"., Dean Inge 3 8? said, "The religion of the Spirit, that
autonomous flith which rests upon experience and individual ins iration
... we may call it the true heir of the original Gospel.. .can be tr d in
our Lord's teaching. We may confidently call it Pauline and Johan .
Christianity .. It lives on in the mystics .. The Quakers had the root of
the matter in them". He further observed 338 that, "The Quakers, who of
all Christian bodies have remained nearest to the teaching and example of
Christ, are the smallest of all denominations". Inge 339 also pointed out:
"The 'Inner Light' is the Light of Faith, and the 'Outer Light' is the Light
of Grace; and these two are only two sides - the human and the Divine
aspects - of the same illumination. It comes from God; but it does not
come - it could not come - into us from outside It is the Spirit of God"
within us that discerns and bears witness to the Spirit of God outside us.

91

The Expansion of Consciousness

•

T. Wigley 340 asked, "Adopting a crude spatial metaphor, may we
not regard the Divine as the 'upper' side of the human, and the human
as the 'under' side of the Divine?" He continued, "In personality we
see the Creative Power actually becoming incarnate and visibly at work;
in man a new quality of life emerges. It is to the credit of the Quakers
of the 17th centur y that they were the first organised body of Christians
to build their entire faith upon the principle that something of God is
present in every man. Their watchword was the 'Inward Light' or 'Divine
Seed' ".
According to Dr. F.C. Happold,341"The mysticism of every religion
speaks with a comrron voice: 'The Kingdom of Heaven is within you';
'Hold fast 10 thy centre, and all things shall be thine'; 'Take your seat
within the heart of the thousand-petalled lotus'; 'Truth is within ourselves... ' Reality is one single "bole, but within the one reality"there are
different levels of significance: Man partakes in all these interrelated levels.
Tbere arc, however, as it were, screens [=caused, we suggest, by the
various bodies of man], separating each region of significance from the
rest".
So long as a man is aware of the "Inner Light", the Greater, Eternal
Self, the Christ-in-you of St. Paul and the Oversoul of Emerson, he necessarily feels that he is an exile on earth. Professor Eliade342 pointed out
that the shaman has "a nostalgia for Paradise". Warner Allen343 , after
returning to his body, described his experience as "like coming home".
St. Paul 844 said, "Here we have no permanent home, but are seekers after
the city which is to come".
Astral projectors and mystics, as one would expect, also give the converse of the above after they had returned from an out-of-the-body experience: Frank Lind compared his bOdy to "a narrow cell", Hepworth
his to "narrow quarters", Mrs. Tarsikes hers to "a cage", Yram his to "a
box", Nancy Price hers as "a shell". Whiteman said that re-entering his
body was like "sinking into a grave". It is obvious that the Gnostics (who
also described the body as "a tomb", "a prison", etc.) were right, and the
early Church wrong, concerning this important matter.
Since the conception of the "Inner Light" is given by innumerable
"communicators",the latter can scarcely have been the "devil","devils" or
"demons" that the Roman Catholic Church - and, in addition. many
Anglicans - suppose. Dr. William Wilson34li summed up the position as
follows: "The doctrine taught by these 'psychic entities' is that of an
immanence of the Divine Spirit within each individual, living or dead".
He commented: "It is remarkable that this persistent attitude has no relation to the belief or scepticism amongst the experimenters... " The present writer cited a number of such "communications" in The Supreme Adventure. 848

IV
Visits to (a) Distant Earth_Scenes.
rbJ "Hodes' {With ··Hinderers"J and
Icl "Paradise" {With uHeIPersJ"
(a) DescriptioDS by ancient shamaos
We gave brief mention of these matters on p. 16 in order to draw
attention to the correlation between man's total bodily constitution and
the total constitution of the earth, as indicated by psychical studies.
Professor Eliade M7 said, "For certain tribes, who are reckoned among
the most archaic, the dead go to the "sky", but the majority of' primitive'
peoples know at least two post mortem routes - celestial [="Paradise"]
for privileged beings (chiefs, shamans, "initiates", and horizontal or infernal for the rest of mankind. [If, as is suggested by analogy, the subtler
"bodies" of the earth interpenetrate as well as extend beyond its surface,
the possibility that "Hades" includes both the surface of the ground and
underground realms is understandable]. For the Maori of New Zealand
... the priest ... tries to- separate the Soul [here = vehicle of vitality =: the
Bardo Body of the Tibetans] from the body and send it up to the sky [=
"Paradise]; the rest of mankind depart across the ocean [ =that part of
the "Hades" belt which is on a level with the surface of the earth] or (0 a
subterranean sea [= that part of the "Hades" belt that interpenetrates the
physical world]".
The mourners of the Dyak of Borneo chant ritual songs whlch describe the journey of the newly-dead in a boat... Proiessor Eliade36~ gave
the heading "The 'Boat of the Dead' and the Shamanic Boat". Under
this he mentioned the fact that the idea of the "Boat of the Dead" played
a great role in Malaysia. Indonesia, Germany, Japan, etc., and he offered

93

Visit to (a) Distam Earth-Scenes, (b)

I

Hades" .....

•

\ arious possible explanations of the fact. He said, "In addition to a marine or submarine beyond ('horizonta]') complex [= "Hades"], there is also
a vertical complex, the mountain as the realm of the dead, or even the 'sky'
L=::: "Paradise"]." Wc venture to suggest that these ideas primarily refer..
red to actual experience of the "watery" nature of the vehicle of vitality
of man and of the corresponding "Hades" belt of the earth, and the idea
ofbeing carried over such "waters" in a "boat" after death, whether
"horizontally" Or down into the "underworld", represented a subsequent
rationalisation. Similarly, when the ancients experienced the upward flight
of the released Sou] Body - "like a bird" - they commonly supposed it
must be equipped with wings: this subsequent rationalisation also was to
be expected - in our experience only boats cross water and only winged
creatures defy gravity. 'Whereas ordinary folk, immediately after death,
contacted "Hades" conditions for a time (since their mental, mora] and
spiritual condition was relatively low, involving a more or Jess length) reo
tention of the dense vehicle of vitality), 849 people who were advanced in
a menta], moral and spiritual sense, i. e. the priests, shamans and those
selected as suitable for initiation, soon shed the vehicle of vitality, i. e.
passed through the second "death", and rose to the "sky" (= "Paradise' ).
This accords, in a genera] way, with the observations of modern astral
projectors.clairvcyants and, of course, innumerable "communications"
froi, beyond.
References to "hinderers" and "helpers" (in "Hades" and "Paradise"
respectively) were given by Professor E]iade. 360 "In Iranian funerary mythology the Cinvat bridge connects earth and Paradise. at the 'Centre', the
'Middle of the World'. The shamans travel freely among the three zones,
hell earth and Paradise; the newly-dead man must cross the 'bridge' on
his journey to the beyond. At the crossing of the 'bridge' (= the "Hades"
belt of the earth, corresponding to his own vehicle of vitality] he encounters both 'demons' who try to send him down into hell, and 'conductors'
who try to send him up to Paradise". (This description corresponds exactly with that given by Edgar Cayce and here cited on page - 72)
"In the initiatory dreams of the Samoyed shamans, the candidate was
carried to the shores af'the Nine Seas'. In the middle of one of these
'seas' [="'Hades"] was an island, and in the middle of the island a birch
tree [ =attached'a~ the solar plexus, the "silver cord't-extension] rose to
the 5k) ' [= "Paradise"]. 'Birds' [= discarnate composite "doubles] swam
in the 'seas'" ["Hades" note that they could not yet fly]. The candida:e
saw men (the ancestors of the nations) at the top or the birch tree. H~
heard voices promising that he should have a "drum" [= "bridge" between
earth and "Paradise"] from the branches of the tree. He (in the releaseJ
Sou] Body] began to fly with the "birds" [permanently discarnate Souls]
of the "seas". Voices told him the mecicinal uses of cenain plants, etc
: .. 1 hen his two "guides" ["helpers"] led him to a mountain ["Paradise"j.
'I

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ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

94

There was an opening [="bridge", "passage" = the second "death", the
shedding of the vehicle of vitality from the hitherto composite "double"],
and he entered a bright cave, covered with mirrors with something like fire
in the middle [=the "Paradise" belt of the total earth]. He was then
caught and killed by a blacksmith, but eventually the blacksmith recovered
his bones from a river ["Hades"] in which they were floating, re-assembled
them and re clothed them with flesh [=symbolising the return to the physical body and earth conditions by re-assuming, first, the vehicle cf vitality
- the reverse of the second "death" - and then the physical body].
"Helpers" are often mentioned by the ancient shamans, According
to Professor Eliade,351 among the Araucanians, the woman who is to become a sharnaness has an illness [causing the release, from the physical
body, of both the Soul Body and part of the vehicle of vitality], followed
by ecstasy [consciousness in the unenshrouded Soul Body], during which
she ascends to "Paradise" and meets "God", The "helpers" instruct her
as to the remedies for various illnesses.
Professor Eliade3&2 insisted that the chief function of spirits in relation
to shamans was not the temporary "possession" of the physical body which
he had vacated (as in "possession" or "trance" mediumship-that of Mrs.
Piper,Mrs. Leonard, J.1. Morse, Mrs. Garrett, etc.) with the object of contacting and communicating with mortals, but the help they gave him to
quit his body and so to become temporarily like them-a spirit (who uses
the Soul Body): they were essentially "deliverers",the equivalent of mortal
midwives. In addition, the shaman had the protection of "the spirit of
the head", who defended him during his out-of-the-body period. He doubtless corresponded.in a general vvay,withcertain advanced "guides", e.g.,
"Imperator" and Rector" in the case of Mrs. Piper. Moreover, the shaman's ability to visit the various "Paradise" regions is due, in part, to
assistance, given by these "helpers" - he "asks for their support".353
The shaman of the Yenieseiostyyak (Asia) invokes spirits, sings and
dances. "When the spirits have come, he begins to leap. This means
that he has left the' earth [his released "double" - using constructive imagination] and is rising towards the clouds. He cries, 'I am high in the
air .. .' and ... addressing the spirit-helper who is carrying him through the
air, he cries, 'Rise still higher ,'... He finally returns with the patient's
Soul"'3M
In Asia, the Yurak-Samoyed shaman, treating a patient, ascends to
the "Sky" and asks the help of "Num" (the Supreme God). He also obtains from spirits the answers to his questions concerning "the will of the
gods". 355
Conceptions that are very similar to those given in the Tibetan Book
ofthe Dead 28? are found in S. W. China: Dto-mba Shi-ll, the first shaman.

9S

Visits to (a) Distant Earth-Scenes, (b) "Hades" •.....

•

clears the "road" [through "Hades"] for the newly-dead, since the "road"
is barred by "demons" ["hinderers"]. He "opens" the "road" and escorts
the newly-dead man, through various zones, to the foot of a tree, at the
top of which.is the realm of the gods [="Paradise"].358
(b) Deserlpnoes by modem astral projectors

It is scarcely necessary to say that there is a remarkable consensus of
opinion, among ancient shamans, moderns who have had out-of-the-body
experiences,and clairvoyants, as well as among the various world religions
and the innumerable "communications" from beyond, as to the bright,
beautiful and serene conditions that characterise "Paradise" (=the "Garden of Eden" = Elysium of the Greeks = "Summerland" = "the Third
Sphere", etc.), and as to the occurrence of many powerful and reliable
"helpers" therein. It is in regard to the region that is intermediate between
"Paradise" and the earth, namely,"Hades" (=the "Amenta" of the Egyptians, "Sheol" of the Jews, "Kama Loka" of the Hindus, "Bardo" of
the ancient Tibetans, "Limbo" of the scholastic theologians, the "Lower
Borderland", "Lower Astral", "Plane of Illusion", "Greyworlds", etc.)
that teachings have so often been inadequate, resulting in false notions of
after-life conditions in general. With the evidence now available, these
can be corrected.
A number of astral projectors who (first) contacted "Hades" conditions
- because their "doubles" were (at first) composite, the Soul Body being
more or less enshrouded by substance from the vehicle of vitality - were
cited in TheStudy and Practice of Astral Projection, Some have here been
mentioned on p. 71. On one occasion, Dr. Enid Smith357 seemed to sink
into "a dark river" and stated,"the 'water', kind and gentle, momentarily
closed over my head". On another,358 she stated,"I had passed out of my
body, as I supposed, in death, seeming to sink momentarily into some dark
river that I was crossing". Gerhardi 359 at first seemed to be passing
through "a murky, heavy space". Helen Brooks380 observed that she had
to pass through one "plane" prior to entering the "astral" [="Paradise"];
in it "everyone and everything seemed to be in semi-darkness". de la
Mare 381 described "a slow-moving river", etc. Other similar experiences
were cited in More Astral Projections. Muldoon 287 recorded that, when
his "double" was first released, the room seemed to be full of "steam or
white clouds", a condition that cleared up in about a minute - he had a
"blackout" as he passed through the second "death". Mrs. Dowell passed
through "a veil of mist", Mme. d'Esperance through "a misty, cloudlike
region", Mrs. Brittain through "a dense grey mist", Slater through "twilight", Hives through "a thick grey mist", Violet Burton through "grey
fog", Mrs. Gwen Cripps through a region that was "deeply misty", Reine
through "a thick black fog", Aridaeus mentioned "deep water", a Red
fndian Chief "a dark river". John Lar.e289 felt "a great swish of the 'tide"'.

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

96

The most significant description was given by Professor J. H. M. White·
man,S02 who said, "There is sometimes a kind of dissolution of the 'world'
into a condition of shapelessfluidity. when all we are conscious of is a substantial movement as of currents eddying... Then. in due course. the new
'world' and our new personal form are condensed out of the 'waters' ". He
continued, "In these transitional states fantasy-influences sometimes take
hold and the separation [= I rue projection] may lapse into a dream of
flying, floating or swimming". He furl her said that the "currents" "seem
to be almost material in character" (i.e., "semi-physical") and that "they
could even be mistaken for physical sensations".
When Mrs. Clayton S8S left her body she said, "Almost at once I saw
the 'sea' ". J. H Brown,285 Mrs. Springer,2" Whiteman"! and several
others, realised that this was not the physical substance which we caIl water,
but something that superficially resembled it. Mrs. Clayton continued,
"This 'sea' was the astral worl j [here = "Hades"] .. I saw someone coming across the 'sea' [from "Paradise" conditions] and realised it was my
husband". Later's64 Mrs. Clayton described the "Hades" belt of the earth
as having "a damp mist" which gave her "a sensation of coldness".
(c) Descriptions by clairvoyants
Miss Bazelt 8eli described "a half-way house" or "a· half-hypnotic
state". Mrs. Leonard "a kind of half-way or intermediary place - a halfworld" where there was "a greyish mist". Phoebe PayneS" saw a newly
-dead woman who had committed suicide: she was in great misery, perambulating the room "as though enveloped in a grey fog". Miss Payne SS?
also mentioned a man who had felt as if he had "floated away" and
"slipped back" from the physical into another world in which physical
sounds were muffled "in a whitish grey mist".
Mrs. Eileen J. GarrettS" described a newly-dead man (whose "double", like that of the suicide seen by Miss Payne, would doubtless include
the whole of t\1e vehicle of vitality) who, she said. was in "a half-world
of confusion - a world caught between waking and sleeping, where the
dream-experience becomes the reality". She also described"8 "a grey twiligln world" and said,' "Jt is not in my mind but in the atmosphere around
me that this greyness persists, moving like a mist over a river in the early
morning .. What produces it, I have not yet been able to determine, since
it seems an external thing over which I have no control". WI; venture to
suggest that it was substance from the "semi-physical" vehicle of vitality
which, for a time, enshrouded the "supper-physical" Soul Body, and limited consciousness to "Hades" conditions.

(b) Descriptiom; by "communicators"
People who, like Mrs. Garrett, have the mediumistic bodily constitution, commonly described passing through the "Hades" belt on their way

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Visits to (a) Distant Earth-Scenes, (b) "Hades"

•

to "Paradise" conditions; their "doubles" were at first composite and later
simple. Numerous "communicators" say that, at death, the whole of the
vehicle of vitality accompanies the Soul Body,370 so that all the newly-dead,
whether of the mediumistic constitution or not, have composite "doubles"
and must pass through "Hades" conditions before reaching "Paradise".
Many critics have assumed that the "Hades" episode was the only one:
hence such misleading books as that by J. G. Carew-Gibson.F- But this
is normally only a brief intermediate stage, of which, indeed, most decent
people are unaware, since they sleep through it, while saints llash through
it.
.
The "communicated" descriptions of "Hades" (and of "Paradies,')
are identical with those given by people who had out-of-the-body experiences, clairvoyants (and shamans): the "communicators" likened the conditions of "Hade." to "a dense seafog"372, "a grey mist", "a hueless, grey
world", "thick, hanging clouds", "a grey world of shades", etc. Major
W. T. Pole 373 received a "communication" concerning "the mists which
hang over the great river separating your [physical] world from ours
["Paradise"]." This "communicator", like the shamans, pointed out that
"all Souls must pass through these 'mists' on leaving their physical bodies
for the last time" - in other words, the Soul Bodies of all who die are
temporarily enshrouded by the vehicle ofvitaIity. Like the shamans,astral
projectors and clairvoyants, the "communicator" also stated that this
region can include conditions that are "unpleasant".
It is surely significant that "communicators" describe "helpers", in
"Paradise" conditions, as performing the same service for those who undergo mediumistic trance as for those who leave their bodies in the ordinary manner, i. e., astral projectors: they act as "deliverers", the equivalents of earthly midwives. "Doctor" communicated this through Mrs.
Piper, 374 describing how her "guides" "seized" her "Spirit" [="double"]
and "pulled it out" of her body. "Guides" also, like shamans' "helpers",
give instruction to mediums as to desirable modes of life, healing techniques, etc. The "guides" of Mrs. Piper were held in great respect by Dr.
Richard Hodgson (who was eminently able to assess their status and
worth).

Professor Eliade37li summed up the moral and spiritual basis of ancient shamanism as follows: "Shamanism defends life, healtn.fertility, the
world of'light', against death, disease. sterility. disaster and the world of
'darkness'''. The shaman held, and demonstrated the fact, that "human
beings are not alone in a foreign world, surrounded by the forces of
evil", since, "in addition to the 'gods' and spiritual beings to whom prayers and sacrifices are addressed, there are 'specialists in the sacred', men
able to 'see' the spirits, to go up into the 'sky' and meet the 'gods', to
descend to the underworld and fight the demons, sickness and death... to
see what is invisible to the rest and to bring back direct and reliable inform~tion from the supernatural worlds .,
"The shaman has been able to contribute decisively to the knowledge of
death. In all probability, many features of 'funerary geography'. as well
as some themes of the mythology of death. are the result of ecstatic experiencesof shamans".

"The lands that the shaman sees and the personages he meets during
his ecstatic journeys in the beyond are minutely described by the shaman
himself, during or after his trance. The unknown and terrifying world of
death assumes from, is organized in accordance with particular patterns;
finally, it displays a structure and: in course of time, becomesfamiliar and
acceptable... The world of the dead becomes knowable, and death itself is
evaluated primarily as (J rite of passage to a spiritual mode of existence".
Professor Eliade878 took this important matter further. He said, "We
have already referred to the likenesses between the accounts of shamanic

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Moral and Spiritual Considerations

•

ecstasies and certain epic themes in oral literature [i.e., Tibet, etc.]. The
shaman's adventures in the other world, the ordeals that he undergoes in
his ecstatic descents 'below' and ascents to the 'sky' suggest the adventures
of the figures in popular tales and the heroes of epic literature. Probably
a large number of epic 'subjects', or motifs, as well as many characters, images and cliches of epic literature, are, finally, of ecstatic origin, borrowed
from the narratives of shamans describing their journeys in the super-human
worlds".
(b) Descriptions by modem astral projectors, etc.

As already pointed out, the descriptions of astral projectors and of
clairvoyants (independent of mediumship) and those given in "communications" (necessarily via mediums) agree both with each other and with
those of the shamans: "Hade;" is dim and shadowy, a semi-dream world
with possible "hinderers", yet, beyond it is the bright and beautiful "Paradise" in which one has super-normal consciousness (with telepathy,
clairvoyance and foreknowledge) and in which numerous reliable and powerful "helpers" are encountered. In The Supreme AdventureS??we cited
the conclusion at which Aldous Huxley arrived after many years of profound study of this subject from various angles-"There is a posthumous
state of the kind described in Sir Oliver Lodge's book 'Raymond'
[ ="Hades"]; but there is also a heaven of blissful visionary experience
[= "Paradise"] ... there is also a hell ... ; and there is an experience, beyond
time, of union with the Divine Ground" [="mystical" consciousness,
corresponding to the true "Heaven"].
We commented on this passage as follows: "The conclusions reached
by Huxley are of the first importance. But it should be noted that the
"communications"of ordinary folk from'beyond' go further than the learned and highly analytical Mr. Huxley in two respects: first, they insist
(at least by implication) that, in general, the various states, or 'levels' of
consciousness are determined by the bodily constitution at the time (the
vehicle of vitality determining the 'sub'-normal state, the Soul Body permitting the 'super'-normal state and the Spiritual Body permitting the mystical state); secondly, they describe objective environments that correspond
to each body (and therefore to each 'level' of consciousness)."
We concluded by citing Edward Carpenter8?8 as observing: "It seems
indeed probable- and a long tradition confirms the idea - that the Soul
fin its Soul Body] at death at first passes, with its cloud-vesture of memories and qualities [= the vehicle of vitality] into some intermediate region
... Hades rather than Paradise, and for a period remains there ... "
Sylvan J. Muldoon in America, Yram in France and Professor J. H.
M. Whiteman, like the ancient shamans, aU emphasised the importance of
high moral and spiritual endeavour in those who would penetrate the be-

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100

yond: "communicators" are of like opinion. There is a strong tendency.
when the "double" is free from the insulating physical body. to attract
those who are of similar mental and emotional type.

(c) "CommDDicatioos"
Allan Kardec's238 Spirits' Book contains the following "communication": "Nervous excitement on the part of a medium adversely affects
lucidity. tending to introduce errors into communications". This was first
published in France in 1857. Fr. J. Greber's228 "communicators" made
similar statements in Germany a century later-the best mediums are free
from hysteria and other nervous troubles.
Professor Eliade insisted that the ancient shamans were not hysteric.
neurotics and epileptics but men of outstanding mental and moral worth.
Marghanita Lasky.378 who made a profound study of ecstasy apart from
that experienced by the ancient shamans. concluded: "While some pathological stites can undoubtedly produce experience in some or many
ways similar to what I have called intensity ecstasies. it seems to me certain
that these ecstasies are typically produced by people of good mental and
physical health".
Rudolf Steiner.aBO the great Austrian seer. stated. "Absolute healthiness of the Soul-life belongs to the condition of being a seer". He added.
"There is no better means of developing this healthiness than the true
kind of thinking. All attempts to develop while shirking the effort of
thought are dangerous to the health of both body and Soul".

VI
Discussion and Conclusions
(a) Hypotheses -

archetypes, etc.

In considering the diverse facts cited above, and the hypotheses on
which they may best be explained, it is good to bear in mind the following
dicta. Professor F. C. S. Schiller said, "Single facts can never be 'proved'
except by their coherence in a system. But,as all facts come singly,anyone
who dismisses them one by one is destroying the conditions under which
the conviction of new truth could arise in his mind"
Professor William
Mc. Dougall advocated "a readiness to grasp a range of converging evidence. each item of which, standing alone, can lead us nowhere".
One hypothesis, the favourite one of many modern psychologists,
Jung's hypothesis of archetypes in the human sub-conscious, can be ruled
out at once in the present connexion It might (or might not) suffice to
explain a number of experiences connected with quitting the body, whether temporarily or permanently: but it certainly does not explain the converse experiences that occur at significant times-e.g .• (I) the fact that there
is a "blackout" in consciousness not only when the "double" quits the
body but also when it re-enters it: (~) the fact that the "double' is not Only
commonly in a horizontal position, not far above the body, just after
it left it, but also just before it re-enters it: (3) the fact that the "s lver
cordv-extension forms as the "double" quits the body and thins as it moves away, but that it also thickens as it re-approaches the body and is reabsorbed when it re-enters it; (4) the fact that consciousness becomes more
comprehensive and more intense when the "double" is freed from the body
and also that it contracts and becomes duller when it re-enters it; (5) the
fact that there is not only the experience which is called the second "death",
representing the dissociation of one's ownvehicleof vitality from one's com-

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101

mposite 'double". but there is the reverse process which is due to the Soul
Body of a discarnate Soul associating with part of the vehicle of vitality of
a mediumistic person (for purposes of communication, etc.), If the archetype hypothesis is to be sa isfactory in connexion with these five facts, it
obviously needs t) be supplemented by a large num ber of add itional hypotheses that have not. as yet, been envisaged. The principle of economy
of hypothesi .. amply justifies that adoption of the objective body hypothesis.
The suggestion, sometimes made, that the testimonies of people who
had out of-the-body experiences are no more than cultural artifacts is considered in an Appendix.
We now note the following main points, all of which are significantly
interrelated and form a coherent system, as demanded by Professor SchilIer.
(b) Ecstasy (temporary freedom from the body) is universal both histori-

cally and geographically

We have cited Professor Eliade as indicating that quitting the body
was very widely known many centuries B. C., that it is, moreover, "fundamental in the human condition and hence known to the whole of archaic
humanity". This conclusion is of the first importance to anthropology,
psychology and theology.
Eliade realised that, while ecstasy can be achieved in many waY3-in
shamanic trance, by magical techniques, by severe asceticism (Buddhists),
by physical and psychological disciplines (Yogis), by alchemical processes,
etc-"all these techniques and mythologies have a common characteristic,
namely, the importance accorded to the ability to [quit the body and] fly
through the ail and this ability, so far from being an isolated element is
"an integral part of a theological-cosmological complex far more embracing than the various shamanie ideologies".381
He pointed out,m "An analysis of 'the imagination of motion' will
show how essential the nostalgia for flight is to the human psyche" (note
Wildman and Malcolm Bird, cited above). Again,383" Thesymbolism and
mythologies of 'magical flight' extend beyond the bounds of shamanism
proper and also precede it".
As we have shown, both the actual quilting of the body and the feelings of bliss, rapture and ecstasy that characterise the free state are described by hundreds of modern people who have never heared of shamans
and their experiences. Many astral projectors, like Professor Eliade, have
concluded, on the basis of their own experiences, that qurtting the body is
a universal activity with humanity: they include S. J. Muldoon, Dr Horace
Leaf, Staveley Burford, Oliver Fox, Mrs. Eileen J. Garrett, Yarm, Prevost

Discussion and Conclusions •

103

Battersby, John Mittl and Dr. Laubscher. It is surely of some significance
-a fact that cannot be explained as mere ESP - that "communicators"
quite commonly make this same statement. 884 Release from the body is a
common activity; remembrance of what occurs during the release is extremely rare: the physical brain was not used, and it is al.nost impossible
to bring these particular memories through it into everyday consciousness.
It is surely doubly significant-e-and inexplicable in terms of mere ESP-that astral projectors commonly describe the opposite emotions,experiences
and impressions as having occurred when their temporarily released
"doubles" re-entered their bodies.
(c) Ecstasyresembles astralprojection: both differfrom mediumistic

trance
Professor Eliade drew an important distinction between the ecstasy of
the shamans and the "possession" form of mediums hip, l. e., true mediumistic trance. Although some shamans permitted the temporary possession of
their (vacated) bodies by spirits (for purposes of communication with mortals), this he pointed out, represented a relatively recent corruption of the
original practice of ecstasy (in which spirits may act as "deliverers" and
may thereafter be contacted by the shaman). In this respect the ecstasy
of the ancient shamans agrees with the astral projections of moderns. The
matter is of great importance since, with the positive activity, there is
little, jf any, possibility of the person concerned contacting those spirits
who may endeavour to hinder his spiritual progress. With trance mediumship, on the other hand, a negative activity unless the medium is of
high moral and spiritual tone and unless, in addition, he has a powerful
"guide"--able to keep "hinderers" at bay - his last state may be worse
than his first. We briefly review statements on these matters made by
psychical researchers, psychics and "commumcatcrs".

(0 Psychkal researchers
Dr. Hereward Carrington88 5 distinguished several psychical methods
as follows: "In Casesof so-called ecstasy, the spirit of the medium is said
to obtain information itself - either by clairvoyant vision or by partially
separating itself from the body and visiting the spiritual worlds direct ..
Most of the Revelations, so-called, are ecstatic visions, more or less symbolic". Apart from these, there is (0 direct control of the body of a medium, i, e., "possession", and (2) sense-impressions (in which the medium
takes on the condition of the "communicator", (3) the "pictographic"
method (in which the "communicator" impresses images on the mind of
the more or less entranced medium), and (4) the telepathic method (with
little. if any, trance).
Professor C. J. Ducasse 3B6 distinguished the temporary" possession"
of parts, at least,.of a medium's-body (e. g., the auditory or vocal organs

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ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

104

or the hand, for writing) from the telepathic transmission of thoughts and
messages.
(ii) PSl'ehies

Geraldine Cummins 887 described the method she used to obtain her remarkable communications: it is the positive method, and has no relationship to "possession" mediumship. She begins by concentrating on stillness.
thus separating her consciousness from the physical body and world and
raising it to super-physical activity. She stated, "I have never been controlled hy an alien mind. J am a stenographer taking down words from
dictation and employing, as it were, an inner hearing".
Phoebe Payne388 also distinguished between negative and positive
psychism, the latter being "objective and clear-cut" so that its products
had "the ring of truth", wbile the former was so "confused and entangled
with subjective psychological processes" that its products would not stand
up to critical analysis. She made an important point: no one is completely negative in this matter, though some are "almost entirely" so .There
are, of course, all gradations between the two extremes. C. W. Leadbeater 38 9 said the same.
Miss L. M. Bazett 390 stated that the negative condition is one of "mere
vacancy, with its liability to entertain any passing impression. receiving it
without due judgment or inhibition", and that it both involves the risk of
dissociation of personality and of depletion of the vitality. On the other
hand. if one creates a sense of stillness and maintains silence, "this silence
brings a great psychical perception-a man puts his conscious self to sleep,
then consciously awakens himself into a supreme activity". This activity
brings refreshment and health, not depletion and ill-health. Miss Bazett,
however, pointed out that "many" psychics (doubtless those who have
the mediumistic bodily constitution, i, e., a loose vehicle of vitality) first
experience certain physical sensations (nervous tremors, shuddering, fluctuating temperature, etc.) and thereafter "a sense of body comfort-a halfway house, as it were". She continued, "It is necessary to pass through
the half-hypnotic state ... This plane is but the sleep-state of the subconscious faculties [which work through the,ehicle of vitali y], but the supra
levels of the mind [which work through the Soul and Spiritual Bodies]
must be dominated before the transcendental states of consciousness can
be attained".
According to Max Heindel,391at an early period in the evolution of
man, the vital body [vehicle of vitality or etheric "double"] had not completely entered the physical body-their association was much looser than
obtains today. so that all men were then of the mediumistic constitution.
all were involuntary clairvoyants, receiving impressions from non-physical
realms. This agrees With Eliade's view but in addition, indicates a bodily

105

Discussion and Conclusions •

cause.

At the present time most men's vehicles of vitality are closely.interwoven with their bodies, so that they are unware of psychic impressions
which nevertheless do impinge upon them. Some sensitives merely have
the original loose vehicle of vitality, they are of the purely mediumistic;
involuntary, passive type who need 10 be helped by others to re-awaken
the solar plexus and other organs connected with the involuntary nervous
system: to such people, the development of their psychical faculty represents a retrograde step in human evolution, Other sensitives, the positive,
voluntary, self-controlled type, are seers or clairvoyants rather than mediums; if these develop their psychic abilities they are .taking a forward step
in human evolution. .Rudolf Steiner,892 Geoffrey Hodson 893 and C. W.
Leadbeaterv" said much the same, and, as already said, it agrees in general with Professor Eliade's observations concerning the ancient shamans.
But the modern seers (as well (as certain astral projectors and many
"communicators") go further than the shamans - they correlate the
relevant experiences undergone with the total bodily constitution of the
persons at the time: in primitive times, said Heindel, etc., all men were
more or less clearly aware of the non-physical realms which we call
"Hades" and "Paradise" and of the spirits who inhabit them, but this
automatic and involuntary ability became lost to all but the few who
inhabit them, but this automatic and involuntary ability became lost to all
but tbe few retained the original bodily constitution. The loose vehicle of
vitality, only partially incarnated,which characterised primitive men,which
characterised primitive men was lost to all but the few: this loss was
necessary in order to narrow the focus of attention to the physical
world - a process that resulted in individualisation and the development
of self.consciousness (with the possibility of responsibility and therefore
moral and spiritual advance) but which entailed oblivion of, or apparent
exclusion from, "Hades" and "Paradise" and has culminated in materialism. True trance mediums are such because they have. the primitive
bodily constitution, namely, a loose and little incarnated vehicle of vita'lity, Shamans, and seers such as Geraldine Cummins, Swedenborg, Steiner, Heindel, Payne, etc., are a step in advance of the rest of mankind;
they are now exercising faculties which may be common centuries hence.
Yet, as Miss Bazett pointed out, while examples of these two extremes
are readily recognized, there also all gradations between them. It would
be strange if this were not the case.
Professor Eliade quoted the shamans as saying that they became
like spirits, i, e., while the latter are completely and permanently free
from a physical body, the former, on account of their loose vehicle of
vitality, are naturally more or less free and temporarily, by the use of
their techniques, increase that condition. In Intimations of Immortality396
we distinguished between (a) ordinary men, in whom the vehicle of
vitality islully ;n-earnate, (b) spirits in whom it isfully dis-carnate and

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(c) between them so far as total bodily constitution is concerned, mediumistic people in whom it is partly dis-earnate. These latter people are
able. if willing, to provide the "bridge" or "ladder" between mortals
and spirits.
(iii) "Communicators"
As in so many other matters, "communicators" make the same point
as Professor Eliade. In America, Mrs. Keeler's "communlcator'P"
stated, Astral projection is a positive and active matter, involving a condition opposite to that of trance or ["possession"] mediumship that
[which involves a negative or receptive condition] Again. as7 they said
the "guides" or "helpers" who assist suitable mortals temporarily to leave
their bodies (in order that they can give help to other mortals who may
be sick, to the dying, to the earthbound etc., and also receive encouragement and instruction themselves)3S8 are "of a different kind" from the
"guides" or "controls" who assist in the transmission of messages by
means of entranced mediums.

In Great Britain, Mrs. "Willett". communicating to Geraldine Cummins,3ss made reference to her own condition while providing the "communications" that formed the basis of the Palm Sunday case.'OO Mrs.
"Willett" stated that her "automatic writing", so far from being of the
negative type, "was deliberate" and pointed out, "I was more wide-awake
holding a pencil or pen. No danger then of possession. But my communications preferred the spoken communications ..... She was "terrified of'becoming unconscious and posessed [her physical body temporarily possessed by
an alien Soul Body] like Mrs. Piper".401 Instead of this, because she was
"partly identified with the communicator", the latter's mind "tlowed into"
hers. She experienced • bliss", i.e., ecstasy.402 This method might be described as supertelepathy. Mrs."Willett", much like Heindel, etc, stated that
when morta's are less "primitive" they will enjoy "telepathized talks" with
other mortals and with the dead. 403 She stated, "In the latter case it requires -solitnde and ease of mind for the deep concentration that is needed
10 pick :-upaccurately what the visitor is saying".
"Stead" ,404 Communicating, gave the same ideas-a person who is of
the positive type has a large, strong and bright aura, a "long-wave" aura,
one that is impermeable to entrance to discarnates: this man receives
thoughts telepathically. A penon who is of the negative t) pe has a small.
weak aura, a "short-wave" aura, one that can readily be entered by a
spirit (who mayor may not pass from the aura to a temporary possession
of the body).
.
The American lawyer E. C. Randa1l4oa was similarly told: "The
mental emanations flowing out from a blain highly developed appeared
to spirit-people as lines of force... the longer those lines of force, the more

107

Discussion and Conclusions •

active the substance composing them and the lighter their appearance.
The mental emanations drawing out from great and generous Souls appear
as light".
Also in America, Mrs. Cora L. V. Tappan 408 was told that "the ancient seers and prophets were inspired - their psychical activities were
wholly of the mind", but "certain persons are endowed by nature with a
physical body [which includesthe vehicleofvitaUty] that permits them to
be used as mediums ... they have around them a peculiar atmosphere or
aura whereby spirits are enabled to approach them and produce sounds,
to lift tangible substances and to move the hand automatically to write,
etc. The emanations from the medium's body that the spirit employs to
produce the rappings and other physical manifestations is not of the nature
of electricity - it is more subtle. This brings that phase of mediumship
where a person is thrown into an unconscious state and another individual
takes possession of the mind for the time being".
Mrs. Sewall407 was told, "We are trying to give you the thoughts and
leave the words to you... Inspiration of thought only is the most desirable
from of communication".
In Germany, Fr. J. Greber 408 was told that there are "inspirational
mediums" who receive the thoughts of spirits, "retaining the full use of
their own faculties meanwhile", and "trance mediums' whose spirits are
expelled from their bodies, the latter being occupied by spirits who speak
through them.

J. J. Morse,409 one of the best trance mediums, was told: "There is
on the one hand a mesmeric sensitiveness, called mediumship, where susceptibility, sympathy and negativeness are absolutely necessary; but on the
other hand there is that other kind of mediumship where strength of mind.
cultivation of mind and aspiration of mind are equally necessary". However, he was warned not to misunderstand trance mediumship -"Between
the sympathetic attitude and the 'nothingness' attitude, if we may so describe it. there is an important distinction - for the best of mediums for
the spirit world are those who are mentally sympathetic, and not those
who allow themselves to become mental nonentities".
(d) The total bodily constitutionof man, the microcosm

(i) Man's primary body is the Soul Body; the physical body is secondary: it was this "descent" that constituted the "fall"
As already said, the shamans claimed to have more than ODe "Soul",
i. e., more than one non-physical body: they called "the Soul in animal
form", "the life Soul", precisely as did the modern seers Steiner and Max
Heindel: it is what the ancient HIndus (and the persent writer) designates

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the vehicle of vitality. They also likened the Soul Body to a bird - not,
of course, supposing that it had a bird-like form and was provided with
wings, but recognizing that it had the bird-like ability to "fiy" above the
earth. With the shamans (who usually had loose vehicles of vitality) the
"double" released was at first composite, consisting not only of the Soul
Body but also a significant portion of the extensible vehicle of vitality: as
a result of the latter component, they first contacted the "underworld",
i e., "Hades", and later, after the vehicle of vitality had been shed and
the Soul Body left unenshrouded, ascended to the "sky", i. e., to "Paradise" conditions. It was the Soul Body that was the primary and effective
vehicle of consciousness; the more it was contaminated by substance from
the vehicle of vitality, the more restricted were its powers. Although the
shamans were not so specific regarding the non-physical bodies they used
as some (though by no means all) astral projectors, they did very often
describe the non-physical "silver cord", a feature that implies an objective
non physical body (of which it is a temporary projection and extension).
The observation that the Soul Body is the primary body of man (apart
from the true Spiritual Body which, however, does not enter into these
studies) is made by astral projectors, seers and clairvoyants and "communicators".
We have already pointed out that Gerhardi observed that it was his
released non-physical body that kept his physical body breathing and
therefore alive; also that he realised that the severance of the "silver cord"
-extension between it and his physical body would involve the death of
the latter. We also pointed out that Mme. d'Esperance mentioned these
matters in terms not of her own bodies but in those of the corresponding
spheres, worlds, planes or realms: she realised that" Paradise" is the primary reality, in comparison with which earth-scenes are mere "shadows",
She also expressed these matters in terms of the level of consciousness at
the time: she observed that she had "a marvellous sense of health, strength and power" and said, "For the first time I knew what it was to live".
Or. Puharich distinguished between "The Real I" and "the One who
thought and acted". Professor J. H. M. Whiteman also insisted, "The
psychical state", i. e , astral projection, "is more real" than the physical
condition. 1n More Astral Projeclions410 we also cited the observations
of C. K. Jenkins and Mrs. Veitch ("I realised my body is not the Real
Me"), Mrs. Newbj ("The Real \tfe occupied a body of different texture"),
and Miss "Sropford" t "The Real Me is apart from my body"). .Sigrid
Kaeyer,4l1 like Steiner and Phoebe Payne, described the sequence of bodily
events prior to the birth of a child in the sense of a "fall" -- she said that
in each person there lives a "God-cell", i. e., the Greater, Inner, Higher,
Eternal Self, the Oversoul of Emerson and the Chirst-in-you of St.Paul, and
"before birth it develops into a Soul Body, corresponding to the infant
physical body". The lWO bodies, Soul and physical, grow together.

109

Discussion and Conclusions •

The fact that, while separated during deep sleep, the Soul Body absorbs Cosmic vitality (the Prana of the Hindus) and transmits it, via the
vehicle of vitality, to the physical body, indicates that the former is primary
and the latter secondary. As already said a number of astral projectors
observed the vital forces pulsating in their own "cords". Mrs Cri ppsl12
stated, 'a could see the vitality in it, a pulsation". VIuldoon4n said that.
when he is free from his body, "Each breath taken in the Astral [absorbing
Cosmic vitality] can be seen pulsing over the astral cord, and causes a
duplicate breath to be taken in the insensible [physical] body". Mrs.Clara
Clayton 414 saw her "cord" "pulsating with life". Identical descriptions
are given by people who observed others who were in'course of leaving their
physical bodies permanently. Mrs. F. E. Porter 415 saw a man dying; his
"cord" "appeared to be vibratir g, as though a light [vital forces] were
flashing up and down". Dr. R. B. Hout 418 said, "It seemed alive with
vibrant energy. I could see the pulsations of light stream along the course
of it". Dr. A. J. Davis 417 said that the spiritual body is related to the physical body by "vital electricity" and to the Spirit by "vital magnetism".
When a men was dying he saw "a bright stream or current of vital electricity"; he compared it to the umbilical cord of childbirth.
The observation that the Soul Body is primary is also made by many
seers and clairvoyants. Dr. A. P. Shepherd 418 summarized the views of Dr
Rudolf Steiner as follows: "As the seeker traces back the time-sequence
'of the 'tableau' of his life, he perceive that, before his physical embryo was
conceived by his parents, the etheric body [vehicle of vitality} existed as
the formative and creative pattern of his own individual physical being".
Again,419"The psychic elements in man's being [Soul Body] have a separate and pre existent entity to that of his material nature ... they themselves
played a creative part in its development".
Phoebe Payne 4:ao similarly observed: "Clairvoyants who have investigated prenatal conditions say that the psychic aura [or organism, i.c., the
Soul Body] acts as a matrix or womb in which the physical body is formed
... The Self or 'I' works in and through the aura [Soul Body] and the
dense physical body, but it exists apart from both". Still again, "According to clairvoyant observation, the psychic organism or aura consists of
.three layers, all of which interpenetrate... Beyond the physical body there
is... the etheric body [vehicle of vitality] and beyond that the feeling or
emotional [Soul] Body, which does not to any extent follow the outline
of the physical body [= it is ovoid]. Beyond that again, and still more
tenuous, is a yet larger sphere [the Spiritual Body]".
Swedenborg observed that the senses belong to the Soul: "Unless
there were interior [Soul] sight, it would not be possible for the [physical]
ey~ to see at all ... They who "ere blind in the life of the body see in the
other world".

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ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

110

The claim that the Soul Body is primary and the physical body secondary, so that the assumption of the latter constituted a "faIl", is cornmonly given by "communicators". In England, M. HoeyUl was told: "The
spirit of man descends into the Astral ["Paradise"] and lastly [after contacting the vehicle of vitality, corresponding to the "Hades" environment)
on to the physical plane, where he is materialized so thoroughly as to lose
all consciousness of his spiritual essence". This descent in the evolution
of humanity is followed by an ascent: "Gradually man attains to selfconsciousness, then his mentality is developed, and finally he becomes
aware of that Higher Ego which is spirit". The "communicator" of J.H.
Slater4iz said, "As there is a physical eye, so also there is a spiritual eye,
its counterpart. It is the Spiritual [Soul] Body which is in communication
with the Spiritual ["Paradise"] World" ... J. Arthur Findlay's "communicator" stated4~3: "This Etheric [Soul] Body I had on earth interpene-trated the physical body. The Etheric is the real body ... " The "communicator" called Wilberforce424 said, "Matter, i, e., substance in its grossest
form, gains in substantiality, in actuality, in realness, as it is found in
supermundane worlds. In the next stage of our existence we [in the Soul
Body] are limited to the Soul of our solar system. As glorified beatified
spirits we shall ascend to the Spirit [the true Heavens] of our solar system.
'As above, so below'. Body, Soul and Spirit are the broad divisions of
man, the microcosm. They are, too, the main manifestations of the Macrocosm, used in the sense of the Cosmos, the ordered Whole, the Universe". In his very remarkable "communication" to Geraldine Cummins,426
"Myers" described the Macrocosm : "In the state beyond Illusion-land
[i. e., in the true Heavens beyond "Paradise"], when you are sensible of
your Subtle [Spiritual] Body, you dweIl in a world which is the original
of the earth. The earth is an ugly smudged copy of the world wherein
dwells the Subtle Soul and its Subtle Body. The earth as you know it is
this unreal thing - a copy of a masterpiece. It is a shadow with all the
defects of a shadow .. The true life is not expressed in it".
The "communicator" of Oswald Murray4i8 said: "Our circuit of
being includes our 'descent [ =the "fall" into matter] as germic Selves
[Greater, Inner, Eternal Selves or Over-souls] from the central stale [=the
true "Heaven" - beyond time, space or form] into this outer, physical
world, passing through intermediate states [=the Soul World, "Paradise"
or the "Garden of Eden"] before we get here. Becoming endowed with
an organism through human parentage, our self.consciousnees unfolds and
we re-ascend [resurrecting out of matter], on our return circuit consciously,
through the same states but in reverse order, from the circumference to
the centre, through which we descended. We descend as units of conse:ous life, but we re-ascend as self-conscious finite selves".
An anonymous "communicator"427 similarly described the microcosm:
"The outward and visible [physical] form is the feeblest and the most dis-

Discussion and Conclusions •

111

tant likeness of your Real Self .. The physical plane is a shadow, a faint
imitation, of the spiritual and only real".
In France, over a century ago, Allan Kardec's "cornmunicator'w 8
stated : "The faculty of sight is an essential attribute of the Soul... The
Soul possesses in itself the faculty of aIt perception; during our corporeal
life its perceptions are deadened ["blinkers"-like] by the grossness of our
physical organs, but in the extracorporeal life they become more vivid
[consciousness becoming more comprehensive and extensive] as the semimaterial envelope, or perispirit, becomes more etherialised" [first by the
shedding of the vehicle of vitality].
In German y, a Roman Catholic priest of twenty-five years' standing,
Fr. J. Greber,429 was told: "Spirits have shape. Your human spirits have
that of the human body, or, more correctly, your human bodies have the
shape of your spirits ... The spirit builds up the physical body with the aid
of od [vital forces in the vehicle of vitality] to correspond with its own
l I rm and lineaments". Again, "Your physical body is only the material
shell of your Spirit [Body)".
It should be noted that, although these ideas, some expressed in terms
of man, the microcosm, and others in terms of the Cosmos, the Macrocosm,
some referring to human evolution in general and others to the birth and
eventual death of individuals, etc., all are concordant. Moreover, the observations of Steiner and of Phoebe Payne concerning the assumption of the
series of progressively denser (and therefore less reactive) bodies prior to
birth, correspond in reverse order,to the statements of psychics and "communicators" concerning the discarding of those bodies so that progress
ively subtler bodies come into use. This sort of undesigned concordance
is quite inexplicable in terms of ESP, dramatisation, etc.
(6) Since the Soul Body (aud "Paradise") is prim.,,', earth-life is a

temporary exile
Just as the ancient shamans had "a nostalgia" for the bright and harmonious realm called "Paradise", so, as already said, the modern mystic
George Russell described himself as "an exile from light", and Warner
Allen 431 spoke of going "home". Conversely, the physical body is often
called a "cage", a "prison", a "tomb", a "shell", a "grave", etc. 431 A
correspondent of the S P. R. stated: "1 was compressed back into that
body". Numerous astral projectors express reluctance to return to their
bodiellm and so to the physical world. This is doubtless related to the
Scriptural idea of mankind being excluded from the Garden of Eden.
(iii) 1 he "super-physical" Soul Body aDd the physical body are "bridged" by the "semi-pbysical" vehicle of vitality

that there is a "senlphysical' connexion, link, "bridge" or "ladder"
(given a variety of names) between the Spirit, mind or Soul and the physical body.
Among serrs and psychics, A. E. Powell433 stated that the "etheric
double" both ab-orbs vitality and "acts as an intermediary or bridge between the dense physical body and the Astral [Soul] Body". Phoebe
Paynefo;'o stated that it both "absorbs universal vitality" and "bridges"
the Soul and physical bodies. In Germany, as early as 1829, Frau Hauffe's
physician, Dr. J. Kerner ,434 published her observation that, "Through the
nerve spirit [i. e, vehicle of vitality], the Soul [in the Soul Body] is
united to the physical body". She continued, "It accompanies the Soul
[Body] after death", This woman had no education and her only book
was the Bible.
"Communicators" make similar statements. In Great Britain, "A. L.
E. H."fo36 was told that "the nerve Soul [vehicle of vitality] acts as a
medium or interpreter between body and Spirit", Oswald Murrayfo3e
that "the psychic form, astral form or ka [i. e., the vehicle of vitality]
is the nexus between the external [physical] body and the internal
[Soul BoJy], Stainton M03eS43 7 that the "magnetic aura" or "vital
force' of a medium is a link or bridge between mortals and spirits,
Geraldine Cummins 43e that "One's real mind works through the liaison
officer [vehicle of vitality] and not directly on the brain". In France,
more than a century ago, Allan Kardec 43e was told, "The vital
principle is the intermediary, the link, between the Soul [who uses
the Soul Body] and matter [physical body)". Again, "The perispirit
links or unites the body and the Spirit, a sor t of semi-physical envelope".
In America, Mrs -.Tappanf048 was told that "the nervous force [vehicle of
vitality] is not only the connecting- link between your minds and bodies
but also the connecting-link between your minds and the spiritual world",
Mrs. Keeler 441that "waves in the atmosphere [aura] of the physical body
represent the medium of communication between the senses and the mind",
Mrs. Sewall,44~ "It Is the inhalation of the ether within the atmosphere
by the mind within the body that keeps the mil:S d [in the Soul Body] in
vital relation with the flesh [=the "ether body" bridges the Soul Body
and the physical bodv]", Again,443 "Its fleshy encasement is abnormal
to mind" [hence, while in a physical body and on earth we are in temporary exile, excluded from the "Garden of Eden" or "Paradise", which can
be contacted consciously only in the Soul Body].
Many psychical researchers have taken this conception as a valuable
working hypothesis. Whately Smith Mfo said, "The Sout can function in a
four-dimensional [Soul] Body. The 'etheric double' [vehicle of vitality]
is only the connecting-link between the three- [physical] and four- [Soul
dimensional bodies". Dr. Raynor C. Johnson* visualised "the existence

Discussion and Conclusions •
of a force-field, a sort of three-dimensional pattern to which what we loosely call 'matter' must conform". He continued, "The medium in which
this idea-pattern is sustained is our old friend the psychic ether. Sensedata clothe this idea pattern in the psychic ether as flesh clothes the skeleton". Again,448 "The most useful working hypothesis is, then, that there
is a 'substance' - which we may label perhaps a 'psychic ether' - which
is intermediate between matter and mind... This psychic ether is malleable
and ... forms what might be called etheric duplicates. A truer statement
would perhaps be that the etheric duplicate is the model on which the
material structure [physical object] is condensed (i.~, the etheric duplicate
is primary]". Johnson continued, "This hypothesis of a psychic ether is
a unifying one of considerable range and power: it bridges the gap between
matter and mind, and becomes a convenient vehicle for interpreting all
these para-normal phenomena. In the case of man himself we should
anticipate a complicated vehicle (including (a) the Soul Body.and (b) the
vehicle of vitality] intermediate between man's body and man's mind ..
the functional bridge or piece of mechanism which allows body and mind
to interact.. : I think it is in this region of an etheric body that we shall
find clues to a deeper understanding of such varied phenomena as healing
by the use of hands, mesmerism,the nature of some types of insanity,water-divining, magic, and indeed to many basic biological phenomena". Mrs.
P. C. de Crespigny447 said, "The etheric body is the link between the astral or Soul Body and the physical body - a sort of transformer, it keeps
the astral and physical bodies together". A South African medical man,
Dr. B. J. F. Laubscher,448 described "a substance of life and a form of
energy [vehicle of vitality]", which is "intermediate" between the astral
and Soul bodies.
(i,) Because the vehicle of vitaHty"bridges" the Soul Body and the
physical body, a person in whom it is loose provides a "bridge"
by which spirits can reachmortals and vice versa

Just as, on the above conception, "it is only because of our possession
of a vehicle of vitality that our own Souls can contact our own mortal
bodies (and vice versa), so it is only in the presence of a mortal whose
vehicle of vitality is loosely associated with' his physical body that a discarnate Soul can contact a mortal. This aspect of the matter has already been
cited as mentioned by the "communicators" of Stainton Moses437 and Mrs.
Tappan 440 and by Dr. Raynor Johnson.'"
The case cited by Dr. Aneila Jaffe,u, in which a man observed that
he extruded "mist:' from his body [ectoplasm from his vehicle of vitality]
towards his discarnate brother, who protruded a corresponding "mist"
towards him, so that they saw each other-here cited on page 65 - is significant. Professor Eliade'" cited the shamans' view that, "seeing spirits,
whether one is asleep (in dreams) or awake, is the sign of the shamanic

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ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

114

vocation". The explanation was as follows, "For, in a manner, having
contact with the Souls of the dead, signifies being dead oneself". Weourselves made this point in Intimations of Immortality 410; people who see
spirits 40 so because they have the mediumistic bodily constitution,nameIy, a loose"Bridge" or vehicleof vitality: whereas shamans said that the
mediumistic man is himself "dead", i. e., partially free from his body, we
said that his vehicle of vitality is partially dis-carnate. The dead are normally invisible to the living; they are seen only when, temporarily,
their bodily constitution is identical with that of certain mortals, i.e., when
it includes some of the vebicle of vitality as well as Soul Body. The ancient shamans were aware of this. Many "communicators" declared it
years before psychical research began. It only remained for certain psychical researchers to declare that all "communicators" are subconscious
fragments of the minds of usually unlettered mediums.
The following points are surely significant: (I) The successionof
bodily events that have been observed by clairvoyants of the standing of
Steiner and Miss Payne to occur at birth (first the assumption of the Soul
Body, then of the vehicle of vitality, and finally of the physical body) ill
identical, though in reverse order, to that described for death by these arid
other seers, independently of mediumship, and by innumerable "communicators" via mediums.
(2) While some seers and some "communicators" describe the Soul
Body as primary (and the physical as secondary. a "condensation" of it>.
others describe the "Paradise" world (which corresponds to the Soul Body)
as primary (and the physical world as secondary, a "condensation" of it).
(3) The senses are often said by seers and "communicators", quite
independently of each other, to belong to tile Soul and the Soul Body, and
to be transmitted to the physical body, where they operate in a limited
and restricted way through the five senses.
(4) The physical body is commonly said by seers and "communicators" to act on the Soul Body like the • blinkers" on the harness of a
horse, like a screen, blanket, veil or shroud, and it is often described as a
'(prison", "shell", "tomb". etc. Moreover. when it is shed - either temporarily or permanently - an expansion of consciousnessis said to occur.
The rationale of this matter is best expressed by Edward Carpenter'" :
"Limitation and hindrance are a partof the Cosmic schemeof the creation
of Souls. Perceptive powers are quite independent of the usual end-organs of sight, hearing, taste and so forth ... If this limitation of faculty really exists as a fundamental fact of our mortal life, what purpose does it
subserve? And the answer to this is, I think, very clear. It subserves the
evolution of Self-consciousness and the sense of Identity. It is obvious
that diffused faculties and perceptions, however swift and powerful, could

Discussion andConclusions •

115

never have brought these gifts with them. It was only by pinning sensitiveness down to a point in space and time, by means of bodily end-organs,
that these new values could be added to creation - the local self and the
sense of Identity ... Through the development of Identity, mankind must
ultimately rise to a height of glory and splendour otherwise unimaginable".
(5) Our "normal", everyday, consciousness is said, by both seers and
"communicators", to be at a relatively low level : those who, link Professor Whiteman, left their bodies temporarily, exclaimed, "I have never
been alive before (" Numerous "communicators", who had left their bodies permanently, said the same.
(6) It follows that we mortals "feel that we are greater than we know"
and that we are in temporary exile.
(v) The vehicle or vitality typically leaves the .body via the solar
plexus

We have cited (page 52), Professor Bliade's account of the initiation ceremonies of the medicine-men of the Forrest River, Australia: they insert
magical objects in:o the navel of the candidate. Also (page 53) the fact that
Dr. Ronald Rose .quoted. the observations of Australian aborigines to the
effect that the "clever rope", i. e., "silver cord", of their medicine-men
extruded from their navels, and (page 55) Archdeacon Colley'S observation
that the "filament", i. e., "silver cord", of a materialised figure (which
consists of substance from the vehicle of vitality of a "physical medium")
pointed to the medium's heart.
When Mrs. Eileen J. Garrett4ll3 saw a man who was in course of transition she observed two "clouds" leave the dying body: one [the vehicle
of vitality] from the level of the spleen, and the other [the Soul Body]
from the head. When J. C. Street"' saw a man die he observed a "cloud"
[vehicle of vitality] leave the body; it was "moored by a silver cord to the
breast". When "Robertson",·K a supposed communicator, gave an account of his own "passing", he stated, "A cord from the solar plexus was
the link that held me to myoid body":
Those people who bad the mediumistic constitution, i, e., a loose
vehicle of vitality and who left their bodies only temporarily, gave similar
descriptions. When Edgar Cayce"' qultted his body to undertake healing,
etc., he had first to place his hand to his head [Soul Body]; later, he said,
"I move my hands down to the solar plexus [vehicle of vitality]". When
A. M. Farage left hers she said, "The jerk of separation has produced a
sort of tearing at stomach height"; when her "double" returned (to what
she called her "shell") she experienced a shock at "the solar plexus".
When Professor J. H. M. Whiteman's "'double""? re-entered his bodyiJ

•

ECSTASY, The release of the Soul from the body

Ut.

also did so "with a jolt-at the solar plexus". "Myers". communicating
to Geraldine Cummins,us stated that the human "double" and the physical body "are bound together by two silver cords. One of these makes
contact with the solar plexus. [the one that is an extension of the vehicle
of vitality] and the other with the brain [the one that is an extension of
the Soul Body]. Death occurs when these two principal communicating
lines are severed". We support that there is a correlation between the solar
plexus at the "centre" of man's body and the "Centre of the World", between the microcosm and the macrocosm.
(vi) When the vehicle of vitality quits the body completely (along'
with the Soul Body) it does so permanently: it is shed about
three days later from the composite "double", at the second
"death"
We have pointed out (p. 15) that there is reason to conclude that the
ancient shamans generally had the mediumistic bodily constitution, i.e.,
a loose and extensible vehicle of vitality: this accounts for the ideas that
the shamanic vocation is a gift of the "gods" - it is hereditary. There
is some evidence that this bodily constitution is, in fact, hereditary. The
various techniques that were employed by the ancient shamans, including
dancing and whirling to exhaustion, fasting, the inhalation of suffocating
fumes, and certain breathing exercises, all tended to increase this tendency.
Such shamans, like thosemoderns who have the mediumistic constitution,
would release a "double" that was composite, consisting not only of
the "super-physical" Soul Body but also of part of the "semi-physical'
vehicle of vitality. So long as the "double" was so composed, the latter
component would enshroud the Soul Body, restricting the consciousness
of the person concerned to semi dream levels (true observations being
mixed with hallucinations) and obliging him to contact the relatively dim,
"misty", "foggy" or even "watery" "Hades" conditions, with possible
"hinderers". The shamans likened this passage through the "underworld" to passing through a "gate" in a "wall", and (like the shedding
or-"tbepbysical body), it often ended in a "blackout' in consciousness,
What both the ancient shamans and the modern astral projectors described from first-hand observation obviously corresponds to what the"
"dead" describe via medium. i.e., the second "death". These independent descriptions must be highly significant. They are inexplicable on
~he· hyp othesis of ESP plus dramatisation by sub-conscious mind.
(vii) A spirit's use of a medium's vehicle of vitality (in order to appt

ar to or communicate "itb mortals) involvestbe second "death"
in reverse and this bas CODSeqnences.
Certain ancient shamans left their physical bodies and entered "Par'
adise" via a "siver", i.e., passed through "Hades" and experienced the
second "death", and they subsequently returned to their bodies from

117

Discussionand Conclusions •

"Paradise" via a "river". Modern astral projectors who have the .mediumistic constitution describe identical events: on going out they expertence the second "death" and on returning experience it in reverse. It
should be Doted that the effect of the second process, as might be expectif our conception of the total bodily constitution of man is correct,
is precisely the reverse of the first : the second "death" releases the
Soul Body from the enshrouding vehicle of vitality and therefore
results in an expansion of consciousness; the reverse process temporarily
re-enshrouds the Soul Body, causing a contraction of consciousness. .
In these cases it is a person's own Soul Body and his own vehicle of
vitality that are involved. When, however, "communicator" (in "Paradise" and using his Soul Body) contacts a medium for purposes of communicating, he often temporarily enshrouds his Soul Body with some of
the medium's vehicle of vitality - a second "death" in reverse, but in
this case by proxy. Nevertheless, it has same effect as with the shamans
find astral projectors, namely, a lowering of the level of consciousness.
As we pointed out in considerable detail in The Supreme Adventure,468
many "communicators" from "Paradise" complain that they are temporarily in a semi-dream or drugged state, insisting that the condition is not
their normal state, but lasts only so long as they are contacting the medium (meaning, of course, rendering their total bodily constitution comparable to that of the medium, involving borrowing part of her vehicle of
vitality), Many critics of "communicators" suppose (with apparent
justice, since they do not realise these facts) that the "communicator"
was less bright than during earth-life. The fact should not have caused
surprise: "Pelham"480 stated, "I am more awake than asleep, yet I can
not come just as I am in reality"; "Myers""l said it was like parsing
from active life ["Paradise" conditions] into "a still, sleepy world
["Hades" conditions]", but he insisted that when he was not engaged in
communicating he was "much more wakened up". Similarly, many
critics of "communicators" have supposed that their dead friends have
not advanced in the hereafter, failing to realise that this necessary reverse
of the second "death" by "communicators" made them return temporarily to the predominantly human situation."!
Not only is this highly coherent complex of diverse facts inexplicable
in terms of the hypothesis of ESP plus dramatisation, but is is inexplicable in terms of Jung's hypothesis of archetypes in the sub-conscious
mind: many additional hypotheses besides this will be demanded, and
the principle of economy of hypothesis will be violated.
(viii) The "silver cord" - extension between the phyloical body and
the released "double"

The ancient shamans' descriptions of "silver cords", in which these
remarkable and highly significant features were variously likened to a

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ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

118

ladder: ~ tree, a vine, a thread, ribbon or rainbow, a rope or a cord, are
paralleled by those of modern astral projectors : in fact in many
case identical terms are used. These non -physical features are merely
temporary extensions of non-physical bodies : they form as the "double"
leaves the bcdy and are re-absorbed as it re-enters the body. As already
said (page 561. there is good evidence that, although non-physical, they are
nevertheless objective. The numerous facts in connexion with the "silver cords" are inexplicable on the hypothesis of ESP plus .dramati
sation by the subconscious minds of mediums for on that of archetypes
in their sub-conscious minds.
(d) The total bodily constitution of the earth, the Macrocosm

Our studies suggest that there was much in the ancient doctrine of
correspondences, that just as the physical body of man corresponds to
the physical world, so his vehicle of vitality Corresponds to its "Hades"
region and his Soul Body to the "Paradise" realms. As Dr. J; Parton
Milum has said, this conception provides a better explanation of all the
facts than the hypothesis that man is merely a highly eV~lved animal.
Dr. A. P. Shepherd~4.18 summarizing the views of Rudolf Steiner.
asked: "What is meant by the expression 'higher worlds' [and the
bodies that correspond to them] ", He answered, "These worlds [and
bodies] are not separate regions spatially divided from one another, so that
itwould be necessary to move in space in order to pass from one to the
other. The 'higher worlds' completely interpenetrale the 'lower worlds'
which are fashioned and. sustained by their activities, What divides
them is that each world has a more limited and controlled level of consiousness than the world 'above' it. The lower consciousness is unable
to experience the life of the 'higher' worlds, and is even unaware of their
existence, although it is interpenetrated b) them", Many observations
by clairvoyants and "communicators" received via mediums support these
views: death involves no journey in space: the "Hades" and "Paradise" environments interpenetrate our physical world.
(e) Similarities betweenshamanic ecstasy and modem out-of the-body
experiences
_ Freedom from the body, which produced feelings of ecstasy in the
ancient shamans, has precisely the same effect with the moderns who are
called astral projectors. Of the' techniques that were employed by the
shamans to bring about this condition, five, namely, fasting, the use of
narcotics, the inhalation of certain fumes, the holding of the breath and
exhaustion due to excessive dancing, etc., tend to release part of the vehicle
of vitality, while two others, namely, meditation and concentration, tend
to both release and to organise the Soul Body. rendering it an efficient of
ihe Soul when operating apart from the physical body. This is also true of

11'

Discussionand Conclusions •

modern astral projectors. Few people today (as in the days of the ancient shamans) can leave their bodies deliberately and at will.
When free, the shamans, being of the mediumistic bodily constitution
(i.e., having a loose, fluid and extensible vitality), usually first contacted
earth scenes or "Hades" and only later "Paradise" conditions; on their
return, they passed from "Paradise". through "Hades", back to their
physical bodies and earth conditions. This is also true of those, relatively few, astral projectors who are of the mediumistic bodily constitution,
It is not true of tbe non-mediums, these go (if at all) straight to "Paradise" and return straight to earth, avoiding "Hades" - until they come
to die, when the "double" must include the vehicle of vitality, i.e., all
people pass through "Hades" immediately after physical death.
The vehicle of vitality of the shamans apparently left their bodies at
the solarplexus and tended to take a spiral course, i. e., to be slightly
affected by gravity, and this is true also of those astral projectors who
have mediumistic tendencies. Non-mediumistic projectors leave via the
head, On this account, the "silver cord" that attaches the "double" to the
body (if seen) is attached to the solar plexus region with mediums, to
the head with non-mediums.
Shamans, like those "physical" mediums (with extremely loose vehicles of vitality) who had astral projections, sometimes enjoyed certain
physical abilities, e.g., the ability to levitate the body ani as with D. D.
Home, immunity from injury by fire.
Shamans, like certain astral projectors, when free from their bodies,
enjoyed "super-normal" consciousness - they were able to foresee the
future, were clairvoyant and had telepathic powers.
The shamans consciously and deliberately used these extraordinary
abilities to help other mortals who were in troub'e, to heal the sick and
to give good advice and valuable information. Just as only a very few
of the ancients were so advanced morally and spiri tu :I.1ly as to be able to
quit their bodies at will, so only a very few modern astral projectors;
such 8S Professor Whiteman, Yram and Miss Kaeyer, are in that category
Nevertheless, in spite of any differences in spiritual stature that may
occur, our studies leave no doubt that the mechanism by which the Soul
is freed from the body is always the same - the Soul possesses a "superphysical" Body, and release occurs when this (with or without the
temporary accompaniment of part of the "semi-physical" vehicle of
vitality) is released from its temporary exile in the physical body.
Our study entitled DuringSleep, The possibility of "co-operation",
shows that the help given by those who are temporarily freed from their

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bodies is not confined to the sick, etc. - the dying, the newly-dead and
the "earthbound" may also receive considerable assistance.
All these considerations leave no reasonable doubt that the Soul is
distinct from the body. This conclusion, representing the solution to
what F. W. Westaway called "the greatest of all world enigmas", is also
indicated by the evidence, assembled.by Hodgson, Carrington, etc., ill
favour of "possession" mediumship and that assembled by Professor Ian
Stevenson in favour of reincarnation. It is clear that those biological
considerations that have been regarded as having a different significance
merely reflected the necessary dependence of the Soul on the body: we
are merely conditioned by Our bodies (non-physical as well as physical).
Profersor Eliade's studies showed that quitting the body is a universal phenomenon in the historical sense; ours show that it is universal
geographically at the present day. Such being the case, the probability
that the Soul survives the death of the body is very great indeed on this
ground alone.

APPENDIX I

The Importance of Faith
The importance of faith was mentioned on page 2Z in connexion with
the use of certain imagined bodily movements, such as diving and flying,
to induce actual corresponding movements ofthe Soul Body (that normally
interpenetrates the physical), resulting in its release.
The words of the Master (Mark xi, 24) come to mind; "Whatever you
ask in prayer, believe that you have received and it will be yours". This
advice, concerning prayer spiritual gifts, seen in the context of what is observed to occur in relation to the production of out-of the-body experiences,
is evidently not an invitation to self-deception but the expression of a spiritual law. Klein C8a, having quoted this text, pointed out that "True prayer for spiritual gifts is based on our inner consciousness, on our realisation
of the presence of God within".
The importance of faith is realised by many in relation to psychical
activities, in addition to astral projections. In America, Arthur Ford C84
observed, "Because I am one who constantly works with ESP, I believe
there are no unsurmountable obstacles between us and the answer to our
needs": conversely, he pointed out, "There is something about disbelief
thai blocks the reach of mind".. In England, Phoebe Payne&85 gave the
reason for the power of both faith and un-faith in relation to psychic matters. She pointed out that psychic abilities depend upon the activities
of the "sense organs", or "Schakras", of the Soul Body: while, on the
one hand, trust assurance, confidence and serenity, i, e., faith, facilitates
their expansion and activity; on the other hand, un-faith "contracts and
paralyses them". Dr. Horatio Dresser C8' noted the need for faith in connexion with the receipt of "messages" from surviving Souls: he said, "Experiqnce with spontaneously-given • communications' teaches that the be-

121

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•

lieving attitude is the one into which the spirit must grown. In France.
tbe "spirits" who transmitted "messages" to Allan Kard ec46'l urged him
as follows: "Hold fast your confidence, for your confidence will ensure
our help and, "through it. you will reach the goal", The Austrian Countess
of Wydenbruck"' said that St. Therese of Lisieux repeatedly saved her
sisterhood from financial disaster by "the prayers which she uttered with
complete and absolute faith". She further observed 4e8 : "To my husband
and myself, this faith in a protective Power brought about the cases of
• direct intervention' which we experienced - incidents slight in themselves, and yet undoubtedly belonging to the category of miracles".
The prayer of "complete and absolute faith" has been observed in
many countries and over many centuries to yield significant results. In
Germany, Augustis Herman Francke (U663·1727). impressed with the
needs of destitute children, organised an orphanage: he fed, clothed and
educated between two and three thousand children by prayer of this type.
Samuel Jackson, in his biography of the German Jung Stilling (U740-1817)
recorded the fact that his education was obtained by a succession of "miracles" that happened in answer to fervent prayer. Jean Baptise Vianney,
the famous Cured Ars (1786-1859) did the same in France as, Francke
in Germany, while George Muller did the same in Bristol: the last-mentioned eventually wrote a book entitled The Life of Trust.
It is interesting to note that Harriet Beecher Stowet 7o, after describing
some of her own psychic experiences, and mentionin ~ those of others, said
"I have noticed that people who have remarkable and minute answers to
prayer. such as Stilling. Francke and Lavater, are, for the most part, of
its peculiar [mediumistic] temperament". (On our interpretation, they
have a somewhat loose and extensible vehicle of vitality or etheric double:
this "semi-physical" feature provides a "bridge", "chain", "cord" or
"link" between us who are in physical embodiment and those discarnate
Souls who shed it prior to entering "Paradise" conditions).
One of our greatest clairvoyants, Mrs Eileen J. Garretlt71 made manv
references to the importance of faith in the successful conduct of expertments in telepathy. She stated,"1 perceive because of both a belief that I can
know and that I desire to know", and later t 72• "When the experiment is to
be telepathic, there is one very important point to remember. Any slight
suggestive image must be noticed and accepted on faith and put down
what it is - not interpreted by mental association. The great obstacle
to getting telepathic images is lack of faith in what appears". She concluded, "The tendency is to think, 'oh, that's nothing! Why does't something important come? ,"
Harold Sherman t 73, whose pronouncement was based on long experience, said, "You can call upon your higher powers if you will fo r mhe

•

ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

U3

habit of preparing your mind each night for sleep .. Put aside any disturbed.tense.feelings of the day; let go any hates,resentments,fears or worries
-you must not carry them over into the sleep.state. The creative power is
your obedient servant ... Like attracts like and draws you more coditions and
experiences of a correspond ing nature... If you are particularly concerned
over a major problem. review all the angles of it objectively and then,
without trying to reach a conscious solution, go to sleep. Have faith and
confidence that your higher rowers of mind will take it from there and
reveal what needs to be done in a drearn.vor have the answer waiting for
you in the morning." He gave the converse situation: elf you go to sleep
fearing that the problem is insoluble and that conditions will get worse,
it is the same as ordering ocr creative power to produce this very state
of things for you".
Again, Sherman 474 said, "The person who enters the sleep-state having
no faith in extra sensory perception will seldom have any evidential experiences. You have to want help and guidance to get it in any dependable
way" (Compare Matt. vii, 1 and Luke xi,Q -"Ask, and you will receive;
knock, and the door will be opened ... "), He quoted another successful
psychic, Frederick Marion, as saying: "1 would emphasise above all that
the individual seeking to develop his extra sensory powers must believe
absolutely that these powers will operate for him. If he permits the slightest doubt 'during the time heis trying to perform telepathy, he will inhibit,
if not completely suppress, the functioning of his higher powers. Faith,
is, therefore, essential to the success of any sensitive".
In England, Dr. L. J. Dendit, M. 0. 415, discussing the de la Warr camera, the Abrams box, divining rods, etc., observed that only certain pee.
pIe [=those who have a loose vehicle of vitality] are capable of detecting
the persence of disease, of water or of minerals and these people "have to
believe that the apparatus they are using if effective". Professor H. H.
Price 470 said that when one writes a book. "The creative part of the work
is done outside ["normal", i, e., brain] consciousness." - One must wait
for ideas to come; that is "inspiration". After they come the conscious
work of selection, etc. is necessary. He pointed out that the process can
be facilitated by the following procedure: (I) before going to sleep, make
a brief review of the main points of the subject; (2) suggest to yourself
that at (say) 10. A. M. the next day the desired thoughts wiII occur to
you; (3) at 10 A. M. be seated with pencil and paper. He concluded,
"At the time of making the suggestion to yourself, a certain tranquil confidence is needed - faith. if you like". Conversely, "Anxiety and fussiness are likely to have an inhibiting effect".
In U. S. A., Dr. Gertrude Schmeldler"" conducted experiments in
ESP and found that "believers" are likely to show higher scores than
"doubters". Starting with a working hypothesis that almost everyone has

In Czecho·Slovakia, Dr. Milan Ryzlfo71 experiments with psychic abilities under hypnosis. He found it necessary to convince each subject "that
he is able to acquire the ability. of ESP - that he will acquire it". Ryzlfo711
several times observed that the persons who possessed a well-trained ESP
ability lost it after a time: she concluded that they still had the ability but
that its action was inhibited by a dislike of further experiment
Un-faith, the negative aspect of faith, has been mentioned incident;
ally several times above. Dr. Gardner Murpby&at recently posed the question why the great mediums of past times - Mrs. Piper, Mrs. Leonard,.
etc. - have not been replaced by others who are equally great? He said,
"Perhaps we have here a circular relationship: doubt inhibiting the development of mediumship and failure of mediumship adding to double",'
Faith bas a spiritual, as well,as a psychical implication: the Master,fo81 saidman who has will be given more, and the man who has not -will forfeit
even what he has").
Dr. Louisa RhinefoSz told of a boy who, before being tested for psychic.
ability, was promised a highly desired toy for good results, His emotions
were so aroused that he trembled from head to foot. The results he achi-'
eved were excellent.
J

That faith has an emotional tone was observed by Professor Ian'
StevensonUB who agrees with Drs. Pratt and J B. Rhine as follo..,...s :"
The novelty of the tests of ESP stimulates many beginners to performances.
which are well above chance, but which they do not rnai.itain after the
initial enthusiasm bas worn off".
Faith is important not only to our Spiritual and psychial develop
ment but also to our physical well-being. Dr. Harley Williams4B4 gave the
ollowing sage advice: "If you have a strong religious belief, hold on to.:'
t and make it stranger: this kind of faith has preventive efficacysuperior
to drugs, vaccines and prophylactics" Dr. R. Kenneth McAlJ, 485 the
psychiatrist, insisted that 'Forgiveness, fellowship and divine guidance are'
the greatest therapeutic values available", Dr. V. E. Frankl, M:'O., Presi .
dent of the Austrian Medical Secietyof Psychotherapy (who himself es-'
caped from death in the gas-chambers at Dachau) similarly concluded (Th~{
Doctor and the Soul. . From Psychotherapy to Logotherapy, trans!' From
German by Richard and Clara Winston, 2nd ed., Alfred A. Knopf, N. Y.,
1955) "Religion provides man with a spiritual anchor, with a feeling of
security such as he can find nowhere else".
The above can be stated in terms of the conceptions here envisaged.
Each of the progressively subtler and, therefore more reactive, bodies of

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ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

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man (the physical body, the vehicle of vitality, the Soul Body and the
Spiritual Body) corresponds to a progressively subtler "sphere" or
"world" in the Universe (the physical world, the "Hades" belt of the
earth, the "Paradise" belt and true Heavens of the Scriptures) and it
permit a certain "level" of consciousness ("normal," "super-normal"
and Spiritual or mystical). In the case of body, sphere and "level"
of consciousnessthere is a corresponding increase in significance, value
and duration, i. e., in "reality" so that the physical body and physical
world are lowest - not the only, as some suppose - •'reality" . Here
on earth we can "live by faith", using the Soul Body and Spiritual
Body even while physicaUy embodied, giving everyday activities eternal
significance, bringing "the Kingdom of Heaven" to earth. We can take
the above-mentioned conceptions as working hypotheses, testing their validity against the reality and worthwhileness of everyday life.
Sir Alister Hardy F.R.S. The Living Stream. Evolution and Man,
Collins, 1965, p, 286) echoed the view of Dr. L. P. Jacks, expressed in his
'Hibbert Lectures of 1922 Religious Perplexities,(I922): "God, said Jesus,
is spirit: a man is spirit no less; and when the two meet in fellowship.
these is religion. Religion will give us power rather than satisfaction COIH'age to face danger rather than safeguards againt it,inspiration rather explanation ... All religious testimony converges towards a single point... Tbere
is That in the world which responds to the confidence of those who trust It,
declaring Itself to them as a fellow-worker in the pursuit of the Eternal
Values. meeting their loyalty to It with reciprocal loyalty to them. II is a
Power which can help, deliver, illuminate and gladden; the companion of
the brave, the upholder of the loyal, the friend of the lover. the healer of
the broken, rhe joy of the victorious ~ the Gdd who is spirit, the God
who is love".
'
.. ' .
.

APPENDIX II

The Cultural Artefact H4pothes;s
Some students of these matters have suggested that accounts of out-of
-the-body experiences merely represent cultural artefacts - that some pe0ple told of their supposed experiences and others either deliberately copied
tbem or vainly imagined that they themselves had them. It is not impossible, of course, that this may have occurred in some few cases, though
actual evidence that it did in fact occur has not been adduced in a single
instance. What is certain is that this hypothesis fails to explain the whole
of the facts.
(I) Many children, some too young to read or write, have described
out-of-the-body experiences and the content of their narratives corresponds
with that of adults. In More Astral Projections, 1964, we cited no less than
twenty-two such cases (Nos. 111-9,224, 2:/.6,238,247, 254, 259,260,268,
321,370, 390).
(2) "Communicators" who purport to describe the permanent release
of the "double", including clergymen, doctors, authors, knights, etc., at
death, describe (a) the same basic pattern of events and experiences as
people/who claimed to have temporary releases of the "double" and (b)
the same differences in the events and experiences as between natural and
enforced releases as the latter.

(3) Certain "communicators'W described an identical basic pattern
of events and experiences as applying to temporaryreleases as did the astral
projectors themselves -- yet the mediums via whom these details were
transmitted had no knowledge of, or indeed interest in, the subject.
(4) One of the features that is of great significance in the testimonies
concerning temporary releases of the "double" (and which is also comm-

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ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

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only included in "communications" concerning both temporary and permanent releases), namely, the "silver cord"-extension that unites the extruded "double" and the vacated body, is no figment of the imagination
and no "myth", since it has often appeared in photographs of relatively
dense "doubles": there are all gradations between the latter and the
more tenuous "doubles" that do not affect a photographic plate.
(5) In addition to the testimonies concerning out-of-the-body experiences that come to us via illiterate children (and that exhibit the characteristic basic pattern of events and experiences) there are many testimonies
(with an identical basic pattern) that have come from illiterate adults. (a)
The Tibetan Book of the Dead", published in English in 1927 by Dr. W.
Y. Evans-Wentz, comprises details (including references to the "Bardo
Body", i. e., the vehicle of vitality or etweric double, which was said to
be normally shed three days after physical death, and the "silver cord")
that had been verbally transmitted for centuries before being committed
to writing. (b) The Secret of the Golden Flower; A Chinese Book of Life
published in English by Richard Wilhelm" in 1931, represented similar
esoteric Taoist accounts that date back at least to the 8th century and
were first committed to writing (on wooden tablets) in the 17th. century
(c) As we have seen, the anthropologist Dr. Ronald Rose, in Living
Magic 179, published in 1920, obtained descriptions of the "silver cord",
etc. from illiterate Australian aborigines. (d) Dr. Laubscher", in 1963,
published a book entitled Where Mystery Dwells which included testimonies from South Africa by people who could neither read nor write:
what they said was taken down in Africaan and later translated into English
and sent to the author: yet they include such significant details as accounts
of the human aura and their own "silver cords": one Africaan deponent,
Sheila Wahl, like certain ancient shamans, described the feature as "0 silver
ribbon"
(6) The ancient shamans could not read or write and it is now evident that there were all gradations between shamanic ecstasy and ordinary
astral projections of the present day.

APPENDIX III

We have shown, on page I, that ordinary folk of today who claimed
to have left their bodies temporarily-as well as the ancient shamans-experienced ecstasy and rapture under that condition. It is superficially
incredible that "communicators" should commonly state that they experienced ecstasy when they left their bodies permanently, when they died, yet
such is the case. Death is evidently an entirely different matter to the
person concerned than it is to the onlooker. But it involves the same condition as shamanic ecstasy and modern astral projection, freedom from
the physical body with its pains and restrictions.
One "communicator"of the Rev. C. Drayton Thomas 488 stated that he
had "enjoyed'tquitting his body, while another said he had had an experience of infinite peace" - be wished the fact to be recorded in order that
people who are nervous of transition might see it and be reassured. One
of Lord Dowding's "communicators" 487 described his "passing" as "a
most wonderful thing" and one of"A. B's" 488 said, "The act of dying
had been happy". . Professor Ralph Harlow4!88 was told by a "communicator", "When normal, death is a pleasant experience", while a dying
friend of the Revd. Ian Sutcliffe, of Wimbledon,18 exclaimed, "If death
is like this, it will be a joyful experience !"

APPENDIX IV

Honest to Logic
"Psychical research represents not only a body of important
scientific truth, but also the germ of a cosmic philosophy which can
be built upon these facts and on these alone - a philosophy enabling
us 10 formulate a rational interpretation of the universe, clarifying
and illuminating the meaning and destiny of life" - Dr. Hereward
Carrington.

"1 prophesy that a careful and honest enquiry into psychical
phenomena will yield often richer treasures for the well-being of man
than. physics, chemistry and biology, vast though those treasures
are". - Dr. Leslie Weatherhead.
"1 t is through following these rpsychic] facts that the greatest
scientificconquest of the coming generation will be achieved". - William James.

"The primary need iffor an intensification and extension of
research into the nature of man himself - all other branches of
research should stem only from within the limits of knowledge thus acquired. No other course is safe for the future of the human
race". _. Dr. Rochester Berkley.
'It is important that Christian thought should take account
of the results of psychical research and of supernormal phenomona,
as it seems probable that new light on human personality may come
from this source" - Dr. W. R. Matthews.

In his best-seller entitled Honest to God, Dr. John A. T. Robinson'110
formerly a Cambridge don and now Bishop of Woolwich, advanced a
view that is very different from that which was held by the ancient shamans (and which is held by the present writer). He made no reference
to the findings of psychical research, commended by Drs. Carrington,

130

Appendix IV

•

Weatherhead, James, Berkley and Matthews, as noted above, but said,
"The whole world view of the Bible, to be sure, is unashamedly supra
naturalistic. It thinks in terms of a three-storey universe with God up
there 'above' nature ... The centre of today's debate is concerned not
with the relation of particular myths to history, but with how far Christianity is committed to a mythological, or supra-naturalist, picture of the
universe at all". He quoted Bultmann as indicating that, "There is
nothing specifically Christian in the myth ical view of the world as such.
It is simply the cosmology of a pre scientific age". This is, of course,
true: yet it must not be supposed that all pre-scientific ideas are wholly
wrong or that all scientiric ideas are wholly right
Dr. Robinson(91, mentioning what he considered to Paul TiUich's
"great contribution" to theology, quoted William Horton: "The Divine,
as he sees it, does not inhabit a transcendent world 'above' ['Within',
immanentin or interpenetrating] nature; it is found in the 'ecstatic'charactcr of this [physical] world as its transcendent Depth and Ground". But it
does not need to be a matter of either/or: God can be immanent in supersensible worlds (if such exist) and well as in the sensible world andbeyond all "worlds" i, e.. transcendent, in addition. Our primary concern
should not be with opinions but with evidence: is there, in fact, any
evidence for the existence of supersensible "worlds"? Dr. Hereward
Carrington(S8 (who was not a Christian and spoke purely as a psychical
researcher) concludes, "It is not only possible but probable that ..spiritual realms exist". Sir Oliver Lodge considered that .,Psychical research
has confirmed and made real some special facts which are concord ant
with religion . This world is only a small part of the Universe and that
life is by no means limited to the material embodiment as we see around
us now. There is something much more real and far reaching than that.
and we can get into touch with some other manifestations of reality."
Dr. Albert Schweizer held that, "The only road to a fuller grasp of reality
is the exploration of 'super-normal' perception". and Dr. H. D. Wilkinson,
F. R. S. said, "Perhaps there do exist universes interpenetrating with
ours, perhaps containing their own forms of awareness .. It is not the
physicist's job to make this sort of speculation, but today, when we are
so much-less sure of the natural world than we were two decades ago,
he can at least licence it". Lewis W. Florrnan pointed put: "The vast
amount of empty space surrounding and permeating everything in our
three-dimensional 'material' universe leaves room for any number
of other interpenetrating universes in other dimensions". These men had
open minds; on the other hand, those who have categorically denied the
existence of non-physical realms (such as have been calied '.Hades",
"Paradise" and the true Heavens) have been guilty of logical error - there
can be no positive evidence in support of a negative statement
Alexander Pope held: "The proper study of mankind is man", and
many have echoed him. The proper procedure is to begin with man and

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ECSTASY, The release of the Soul from the body

131

the question whether his total bodily constitution is limited to the physical body: If, as we maintain. it is not, we can proceed from that to the
probable total constitution of the universe. Jacob Boehme (1575-1624)
observed, "Man has the forms [bodies] of all the three worlds [spheres,
worlds.' planes or conditions] in him, for he is a conplete .image of
God". Dr, J. Parton Milum recently'said, "The ancient idea that man
is a microcosm. or little world in himself, developing in response to the
Macrocosm or Universe, and having Its counterpart in his OW,l being,
is a far more adequate conception, than the prevailing attempt to envisage man as an evolving animal",
It is necessary to make several points: (1) Dr, Robinson and those
who adopt his attitude towards the world seems to be somewhat as follows
'.'Science must be right (does it not provide innumerable useful arid intriguing gadgets); so we must measure from that baseline. But. the attention of the vast majority of scientists, comprising the physicists, che nists,
anatomists. astronomers, etc" is so fully occupied with certain aspects
of tbe physical world that they seldom, if ever, envisage even the possibility of our possession of non-physical "bodies" (and of the existence
of non-physical "worlds" that might correspond to them).' It will be remembered that Charles Darwin provided a salutary warning of the danger
over-specialisation in his AUiobiography 492. He confessed, "My mind has
changed during the last twenty to thirty years. Up to the age of thirty,
or beyond it, poetry of many kinds ... gave me great pleasure .. But now
for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry .. I have also
lost my taste for pictures and music My mind seems to have become
a kind of machine for grinding out general laws out of a large collection
of facts.but why should have caused the atrophy of that part of the
brain alone, on which the higher tastes depends, I cannot conceive".
When, long before he had made this observation, Darwin had stood in
the midst of the grandeur of a Brazillian forest, he had found is "not
possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder and
admiration and devotion which fill and elevate the mind". But after he
had come to the dreary conclusion that natural beauty was no more than
an accidental product of natural selection-these "higher" feelings had
gone. This does not, of course, mean that one should falsify one's views
in order to retain SUCh feelings-it does mean that over-specialisation
demands a price and this may include a partial atrophy, leading to a.
failure to consider the whole of the truth.

(2) The non-scientist usually regards science as primarily a' body of
incontrovertible facts: to the SCientist, however, it is primarily a method of
investigation by which facts are discovered and the proffered explanations
thereafter tested by the use of hypotheses. It is illogical c;ategorically
to state as a fact that non-physical' 'bodies" are not included in man's total
bodily constitution - and that corresponding non-physical "worlds'; .are

13:2

Appendix IV

•

no a-existent : As already said, there can be no positive evidence for a negative proposition. One remembers that scientists once said that the composition of the sun could never he known (after which the spectroscope
was invented) and others said that the atom - as indeed its name implies
could never be split (a process which now takes place daily). There is
no room in logic for "negative facts". Any day the appearance of new
facts may show that what was formerly declared to be "an impossibility"
must be accepted as an actuality.

(~) Scientists carefully maintain a distinction between established
facts and the hypotheses that are, quite tentatively, advanced to explain
and embrace them. It is not a fact that supersensible "worlds" do not
exist, but a hypothesis. It is at least possible, even probable, ~that they
do and, if this is the case, the "demythologising" process that was undertaken by Tillich, Bonhoefferand Bultmann (and now by Dr. Robinson)
represented a false trail.
(4) The non-scientists (and probably especially theologians) often
argue without first undertaking a logical necessity, that of defining their
terms or, failing that, of admitting that the terms cannot be properly defined so that their reasoning should not be regarded as in any way conclusive.
It should be obvious that no definite statement can be made in indefinite
Terms. On the other hand, every sub-section of each division of science
has a committee, composed of experts, who are entrusted with the difficult
task of defining the terms employed and their findings are published
priodically. Dr. Robinson spoke of the "natural" and the "supra-natural" without defining them. i. e. with the hiddden implication that the
physical is necessarily the only "real" world. There is evidence, in certain
of the "physical" phenomena of psychical research, for a substance that,
though not physical in the accepted sense, may be fairly described as
"semi physical" : certain materialisations were photographed by SchienckNotzingCB4 and Geleyc85 and certain sounds produced among poltergeist
phenomena have been recorded on tape by Dr. Owen4" . Although such
experiments do not belong to the repeatable-at-will category which the
physical scientists requires; the conclusion is unavoidable that something
"real" and objective that is not physical matter does exist: we call it
"semi-physical". If such is the case, then it is illogical categorically to
deny the existence of still more subtle matter, that which has variously
been called "supra physical", "super-sensible". etc. The evidence in
favour of such substance could not be instrumental, as for "semi-physical"
substance, but logical and psychological. In reviewing the present writer's
The Study and Practiceof Astral Projection, David'Iechter'", one of the
most eminent of American researchers, said, "In his analyses, Dr Crookall
makes one very significant contribution to the understanding of astral
projection. He presents substantialevidencethat thenon.physicalbody is
compound" (italics ours). [f we do possess an objective, non-physical

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ECSTASY. The release of the Soul from the body

133

body that is compound in nature (a description that could Dot apply to
a purely subjective phenomenon) then, by analog with the physical
body, it must he drawn from (and most presumably be eventually returned to) a corresponding "world" - the densor component (that which
we call the "semi-physical" vehicle of vitality) from the 'semi-physical
"world" called "Hades", and the subtler component (that which we call
the "super physical "Soul Body from the "super-physical." "world" called
"Paradise". We will return to this point concerning possible non-physical "worlds" after reviewing the evidence for possible non-physical
bodies.
In The Supreme Adventure ,Analyses of Psychic Communications,88 we
adopted as a working hypothesis, the total bodily constitution of man as
given in innumerable "communications" received via mediums. Man's
total bodily nature was said to comprise (a) the Spiritual Body (beyond
time, space and form-a radiation from a Centre and not an outlined
form); (b) the "super-physical" Soul Body (which is ovoid' and (c) the
physical body, animated by the "semi-physical'Lvehicle of vitality (with
the same human form). Dr. Leslie Weatherhead 481 described the book
in which this hopothesis was considered as "a splendid summary of serious
psychical research findings".
In The STudy and Practice of Astral Projection, Analyses of Case Histoties;' and More Astral Projections" we analysed 381 testimonies by people who claimed to have left their bodies temporarily. The same method
was used as in The Supreme Adventure (which dealt with permanent releases from the body): a similar series of events and experiences was noted.
The replica body or "double" (in some cases interpreted as composed of
the Soul Bodyonly, in others of the vehicle of vitality only, and in still
others of an admixture of the two), rose above the physical body and was
at first horizontal, only a few feet away, and was united to it by a "silver
cord"-extension. The experiences described also corresponded with
what had been said, via mediums to apply to permanent releases of "doubles" : there was typically a non-emotional review of the past life, a ' blackout" in consciousness as the "double" separated from the body. then an
expansion of consciousness (with telepathy, clairvoyance or foreknowledge)
as "Paradise" conditions were entered; the "dead" were seen, etc. When,
eventually, "double" returned to the body the events and experiences were
in the reverse order to those on the outward journey - it took up a horizontal position just above the body and the re-engagement of the two objective bodies caused a "blackout" in consciousness.
It will be noted that what was said (via mediums) to occur in the
permanent release of the "double" fro:n the body is identical with what
was described (independently of any medium) to occur in the temporary
release of the "double" from the body. The conclusion must be that the

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"communications" concerning the events and experiences of reauition that
have come to us via mediums were not products, whether conscious or
subconscious, of the mediums themselves -- th~y must have been a.tu rl
descriptions provided by surviving personalities.
Many people have claimed that they left their bodies in a second body
(variously called an "etherial", "astral", "soul", 'spiritual", etc body)
which, though specifically a replica. or "double", of the vacated physical
body, could pass through and doors, was unaffected by gravity, travelled
almost instantaneously to any place whereon the attention was directed,
etc. They claimed to have visited other localities (some on earth, some
in the "Hades" world and some in the "Paradise" realms). In many cases
in which it was claimed that a visit was made to a distant earthly locality
they brought back information (later verided by others) which could not
have been obtained by the physical senses. This sort of experience has
often be taken to indicate a journey that had been taken in an objective,
though non-physical body. But it can be explained on another hypothesis,
namely, that the supposed non physical body was merely imagined and
that the information was obtained by ESP without qu.tti-g the physical
body at all.
However, our analyses of testimonies of hundreds of astral projections", 2brougbt to light a number of facts that are additional to those just
mentioned, facts that cannot be explained on tftc simple hypothesis of ESP
plus an imagined "double", The first of these is that, as already said, the
testimonies of many astral projectors exhi bit a significant pattern of both
events and experiences (e.g., the early horizontal position of the "double"
and to "silver cord" among the events, the review of the past life, the
"blackout" and the contacting of "Paradise" conditions among the experiences). Human beings do not commonly imagine similar detailed successions of events and experiences: moreover, the converse of both the
events and the experiences was noted when the "double" returned to the
body. In other words, the descriptions were highly logical and not at all
fantastic. They are -readily explained on the hypothesis of an objective, a
"real' , "do Ie" : on the other hand, the hypothesis of an imagined "double" would require to be supplements by a number of additional hypotheses if these facts are to be explained. The principle of economy of hypothesis is applied. : the fewest and simplest hypotheses that cover the
whole of the facts ~ust be accepted.
The second group of facts that were brought to light in our analyses
of astral projections (wilh the same logical implication) were derived from
a contrast on the testimonies of people who claimed to leave their physical
bodies naturally with those of people who were forcibly ejected by"anaesthetics, etc. : many of the former visited "Paradise" conditions and saw
"dead" friends. etc; very few ofthe "latter bad"these experiences: many

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135

of the former saw their own "sit ver cord" -extensions; very few of the latter
reported having seen their "cords", etc. Thus, within the basic pattern
of events and experiences already indicated, we recognised two subsidiary
patterns of events and experiences (according to whether the release of
the' double" was natural, and therefore gradual, or enforced, and therefore sudden and rapid. These facts, like those which comprise the basic
pattern, are readily explained on the hypothesis that these "doubles" were
objective "astral", "etheric" or "soul" bodies, but they demand hypotheses additional to tbat of an imagined "double", plus, possibly, ESP.
A third point of importance is this: Whereas most who have studied
the phenomena of astral projection, and who have subscribed to the objective hypothesis, have envisaged the "double" as a simple entity and as
similarly constituted in all cases, the present writer adopted the hypothesis
that two entities of an objective nature may be involved - that some (relatively few) "doubles" consist only of the "semi-physical" vehicle of
vitality or vital body and are merely non-intelligent "ghosts" of living people; that others (relatively many) consist of the"super-physical" Soul Body
only, so that the persons concerned (as the shamans implied) are in the
same bodily condition as normal discarnate souls who have entered
"Paradise"conditions; that still others"doubles" including those ejected by
anaestheiics, those released in grave illness and those released by mediumstic people whether ill or well, consist of an admixture of the Soul Body
with a significant portion of the vehicle of vitality. On this view, some
"doubles" are simple (either vehicle of vitality or Soul Body only) while
others are composite (Soul Body plus some of the vehicle of vitality). These
differences in the composition of different "doubles" explains many otherwise bewildering facts, e.g., it is observed that some' doubles" (those which
include much of the vehicle of vitality) can move physical objects, while
others (which contain none) cannot, that some "doubles" (which contain
much of the vehicle of vitality) are unable to pass thro igh physical matter
such as walls and doors, while others (which contain none) have no such
difficulty, that the "silver cord"-extension of some "doubles" (those which
contain much of the vehicle of vitality) is attached to the physical body at
the solar plexus, while that of other "doubles" (those which contain none)
is attached at the head, etc. These diffierences are readily understood on
the hypothesis of "doubles" that are objective, and sometimes composite,
but not on the hypothesis that they are subjective, merely imagined: those
who would advance the latter will need numerous additional hypotheses
to explain these facts.
Fourthly. whereas the relevant facts so far considered have been revealed by a study of "doubles" that were formed under different circum'
stances (i. e., either naturally or enforced) in another study, published
under the title Intimations of Immortalit y 499, other facts were brought to
light by a comparison ofthe 'doubles"t"at were released by different kinds of

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people (i.e"those who possessed the mediumistic bodily constitution.namely,
a loose and extensible vehicle of vitality, and those who did not). The "doubles" of mediumistic people were seen to include "fog","vapour","smoke"
"cloud", etc., i, e., substance from the vehicle of vitality (as well as the
Soul Body through which consciousness operated), whereas the "doubles"
of non-mediumistic people were never observed to include that substance
- they presumably consisted of Soul Body only. Again, so long as the
"doubles" (of mediumistic people) included some of the vehicle of vitality
the environrneet contacted was either the physical world or "Hades" conditions, and the "level" of consciousness was relatively low: but these
composite "doubles" tended to pass through a second stage, One in which
the vehicle of vitality returned to the physical body (to which it properly
belongs), leaving the Soul Body unenshrouded, so that the realm now
contacted was "Paradise" and tbe "level" of consciousnes was high, often
including ESP. Thus, the composite "double" temporarily released by a
man with a loose vehicle of vitality was described (independent of "possession") as passing through a process equivalent to that described via mediums as occurring to one permanently released, i. e., in the after- death
state - it passed through the equivalent 01 the second "death".
Fifthly, we have the concordant observations of clairvoyants concerning the "semi-physical" vehicle of vitality and the "super-physical" Soul
Body. These, taken alone, cannot be conclusive but they are inexplicable
except on the hypothesis that these people actually saw objective bodies,
the vehicle of vitality with the physical eyes and the Soul Body with the
"eyes" of the Soul. The vehicle of vitality is seen to interpenetrate the
physical body and extend beyond it for an inch or so (forming the inner
"aura") The Soul Body interpenetrates both the physical body and the
vehicle of vitality, and extends beyond them, as an ovoid, for several feet
(forming the middle "aura"); the true Spiritual Body interpenetrates these
and radiates beyond them (forming an outer "aura"). W. Whately Smith
(later Carington)600 held that the facts of psychic science warrant the adoption, as a working hypothesis, of the idea that four dimensional space
is a reality and that tbe Soul can function in a four-dimensional body
(=tbe Soul Body) independently of the three- dimensional physical body.
Moreover be considered tbat the "etheric double" (= vehicle of vitality)
is tbe connecting-link between the Soul Body and the physical body.
Excellent descriptions of the human "aura", with coloured iIlustrations.were given by C.W. Leadbeater''". They agree wirh those given by
Dr. Gerda WaltherlO lI, Mrs. Eileen J. Garrett'", Phoebe Payne 503 and many
others (including children who can neither have read nor heard of the
phenomena). This line of evidence for objective non-physical bodies is
considered in detail in the Appendices to our book entitled On the Record.
The Record of Mrs. Piper of Boston.

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Sixthly we have (though it is not yet coercive)what all scientists desire
in addition to a logically sound argument, such as is outlined above,
namely, experimental evidence. A number of people who have claimed
to release a "double" have also claimed that their "doubles" produced
certain physical effects, and, if further experiments establish these as facts,
they would provide evidence for the objectivity of the "semi-physical"
vehicle of vitality. In U. S. A., Muldoon stated that his released "double"
had started a metronome in an adjacent room and that it sometimes produced "raps" (which could, presumably, be recorded on tape); in France,
released "doubles" were made to approach screens that were coated
with calcium sulphide and these glowed significantly; several released
"double" have been photographed and their locality has been revealed by
means of pendulums. Experiments such as these (which would doubtless
indicate the presence of a "double" that included a significant amount of
the "semi-physical" vehicle of vitality) need systematising and repeating ;
a mediumistic person, one with a loose and extensible vehicle of vitality,
would be the best subject.
Seventhly, in Intimations of Immortality&Of. we adduced certain corroborative evidence. We cited many witnesses at deathbeds whoso descriptions accorded in a remarkable fashion both with those of astral projectors
who had the mediumistic bodily constitution (who released a "double"
that was, at first, composite) and "communications"concerning transition
{when the "double" is also said to be, at first, composite)-tbey observed
with the physical eye, the release from the body of the "fog", "cloud",
"smoke", "vapour", "mist", etc. which we interpret are representing the
vehicleof vitality_
It will be seen that numerous facts strongly indicate that we mortals
possess, in addition to the familiar physical body, a "semi-physical" vehicle of vitality, vital body or on "etheric double" and a "super physical"
Soul Body (while we may further envisage the existence of a true "Spiritual" Body). Man the mircrocosm, may not improperly be regaNled as having
either three substantial bodies (the physical, viral and Soul bodies) or a total
body which is three-storied. Just as the physical body is derived from and
eventually returns to the physical world (="dust to dust"},so it is logical to
conclude that the vital body, "etheric double" or vehicle of vitality is derived
from and eventually returns to a "semi-physical" world ("Hades"), while
the Soul Body is derived from and eventually returns to a super-physical"
world (the Soul World or "Paradise"). There is thus good inferential
evidencefor the material tmiverse the Macrocosm, being three-storied, as
described by the ancient shamans, etc.

Professor W. Heitler, Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University, ZurichlOl issued a timely warning in the same year as Dr. Robinson
published-his small work entitled Honest to God and acquiesce in the total

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rejection of the ancient idea of a three-storied universe. He said, Actually
the Ptolemaic planetary system which held the field from antiquity up to
the time of Copernicus can hardly be described as wholly erroneous. If
we choose the earth as our point of observation (which is not wrong, but
merely inappropriate) the planetary motions are very complicated. The
Ptolemaic system describes them by elaborate super-imposed circular rnotions, but allows the planetary motions to be calculated in advance with
considerable accuracy. It thus represents a useful approximation to the
actual orbits (as seem from the earth). In thinking of the system of Copernicus and Kepler as the "correct" one, as we do today, we do so for
reasons of simplicity and general clarity. It is only in this way that we
can reduce the motion of the planets to the fundamental laws of mechanics
and astronomy".
Professor Heitler a world famed physicist, was not concerned with
such evidence, from psychical research, as we have briefly mentioned above. Nevertheless, he iGe referred to the doctrme of the harmony of the
spheres, advanced by Pythagoras (and considered by Kepler): he said,
"Ancient tradition asserts that Pythagoras was able to apprehend the harmonies in some supra-sensuous way. Mere optical observation could
scarcely' suggest the idea ... The universe of the Pythagorean and Platonic
schools of Greek philosophy was animistic throughout and 'endowed with
spirit': ';The same is true for other ancient world philosophies, e g., Indian
philosophy, and views of this kind date back long before Pythagoras' time.
Perhaps the biblical story of the creation or the detailed Indian account
of the evolution of the word can be regarded as pictorial representations
of metaphysical facts and events having refcrenee to the COi'UOS. Seen
against this background, the harmony of the spheres appears rather as a
detail in an over-all picture of tile cosmos that is markedly metaphysical.
Presumably the origin of such views is in mysticism
and is probably
baSed on practical spiritual knowledge and experiences, of which at least
isolated individuals of the ancient world were capable. There are recurrrent reportsthroughout the whole of human history of supra-sensuous or
mystic experiences, and much of this is undoubtedly genuine ..... Modern
science does not warrant our simply rejecting all this .. What the facts are
in regard to Pythagoras t.nd his apprehension of II~e harmonies we can Dot
now tell with certainty. BUI, assu ning that there is a grain of truth in
them, it would point to a completely differentaspect of the universe that
cannotin principle be contained in the physical aspect. The same applies
to the Whole spirit-inhabited universe of classical and oriental universal philosophies. We find metaphysical aspects of the cosmos hinted at everywhere
aspects in which as yet no connection is recognised with tile picture of ihe
world given by physics and astronomy, but all of which is nevetheless hardly
possible summarily to ingore.·
"There would -be no-logical' incompatibility between thep!lysicaJ anti
-astronomicalaspect and ~u.ch metaphysical aspects for the reason that t/~yt

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ECSTASY.

The release of the Soul from the body

13~

are based on experiences of different kinds, and so lie on different planes.
Apparent contradictions between two such aspects do not necessarily imply.
that one of them is false, It might be that we merely iack the concepts that
would enable us to see that both are justified as parts of?« higher unity":

These highly desired concepts, we venture to suggest, are being sup'plied by psychical science. It is truly remarkable how concordant the
psychical and mystical accounts are found to be in all basic details. In
'addition to those already mentioned, we note that "communicators" not
only describe man as possessing a three-storied body (corresponding to a
three-storied earth) but they describe three "deaths", first that of the physical body, then that of the vehicle of vitality and finally that of the Soul
Body (some examples were given in The Supreme Adventure89 and many
others will be given in a forthcoming book entitled That Next World and the Next). Meanwhile, seers of exceptional reliability, such as Rudolf
Steiner607 and Phoebe Paynes•• - who, it should be noted, are averse from
the exercise of "possession" mediumship -- describe birth into this world
as a threefold event, involving first the "birth" of the Soul Body, then that
'of the vehicle of vitality and finally that of the physical body. Now these
are simple statements and, as such, can carry little weight: but it should
be Doted that each of the three "deaths"is described by the seers as causing
a "blackout" in consciousness and as being followed by some kind of a
review of the past earth-life. Meanwhile, numerous "communicators"
.describe those experiences as having occurred to them in their after-death
journey. Steiner (so far as we know) was unaware of the "communicators' " descriptions, and vice versa. Moreover the three' 'deaths" are described by certain astral projectors as having occurred to themselves, and
these were neither seers nor, of course, "communicators". Dr. A.P.Shepheard,607,Steiner'sbest biographer, indeed, considered that Steiner's revelations cocerning the after-life was previously" "completely unknown".
The semi-and super-physical bodies of man, and the corresponding "spheres", i. e., semi-and super-physical bodies of the earth (with their characteristic inhabitants), as described, quite indep..ndently, by "commuuicaors'
seers, including shamans, and astral projectors are essentially ideaucal :
the differences are terminological only. All state that we mortals here and
now work through a three-storied body and react to a three-storied world.
At an early stage in the evolution of the human race there was a more or
lessdim awareness of the semi-and super-physical worlds, L,e., of ' Hades"
and "Paradise", and their rnhabitants, but, with the deeper immersion of
the Soul into the physical body (a process that narrowed the focus of attention, facilitated individual s..tion and progress in both the moral and
scientific fields) necessarily redcced this a vareness to almost nil. We are
assured yhst it will eventually return.
Again, "communicators". seer- and astral projectors all.independent-

Iy, describe the second "death", i, e , the shec'dmg, from a composite

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"double", of the enshrouding vehicle of vitality. This is fairly simp'e and
might be disregarded.' But they also describe the reverse of the second
"death", i, e., the assumption by the "super-physical" Soul Body of the
"semi- physical" vehicle of vitality and this under three obviously appropriate conditions Mediumistic people who; having released a composite
"double" which passed through the second "death", also described reassuming the vehicle of vitality prior to re-entering the physical body.
Other mediumistic people who had released a composite "double" and
passed through the second "death" described re-assuming the vehicle of
\ itality in order to contact inhabitants of "Hades" who needed their help.
Finally some of those of the "dead" who have passed through the second
"death" and entered "Paradise" conditions, were obliged to reverse the
process in order to communicate with mortals. Everything is highly consistent and logical in these matters. We cannot "prove" the existence of
the "semi-physical" and "super-physical" portions of a three-storied universe, but there is good evidence for the existence of the "semi-physical"
and super physical portions of a three-storied body of mankind, and it
grows both in amount and cogency almost daily. There is certainly no
warrant for categorically denying the existence of "Hades"and"Paradise".
The least that can be said about such denials is that they involve logical
error.
Sir Alister Hardy, F. R. S.108 has wisely said. "We must have more
studies of the nature of religious experience and more research into the
psychic side of man. Let us go forward to reclaim the ground that has
been lost in this world through a false belief that science points only to
materialism".